St. Dominic’s Cath Lab Reaches 70K Hearts Milestone

The Mississippi Heart Institute at St. Dominic Hospital reached a milestone on January 22, 2008, by performing the 70,000th procedure in its Cardiac Catheterization Lab. To help commemorate the occasion, physicians and staff were treated to a celebration cake on January 29.

The first heart catheterization at St. Dominic’s was performed on October 22, 1973, in the Special Procedures room within the hospital’s Radiology Department, before a designated catheterization laboratory had been established.

Today St. Dominic’s Cath Lab is a busy, state-of-the-art procedure area within the Mississippi Heart Institute.  The area is comprised of five laboratories, all of which can be used for diagnostic or interventional coronary procedures.  These include cardiac catheterizations, coronary angioplasty, atherectomy and stent implantation. One of the labs is an EP lab where diagnostic electrophysiology procedures, 3-D mapping and ablations are done. Peripheral vascular diagnoses and intervention is done in a specialized vascular lab.  Atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) closures, as well as valvuloplasty and alcohol septal ablations are among other specialized procedures that are done in this progressive, cutting edge Cath Lab.

The Cath Lab team, along with the staff and physicians in St. Dominic’s Emergency Department, has recently been recognized for improving the hospital’s Door to Balloon (D2B) times, meaning less loss of heart muscle for patients presenting to St. Dominic’s with acute myocardial infarction.  To continue this important trend in cardiac patient care, our teams have developed a multidisciplinary approach to improve processes and have partnered with local ambulance service providers so that diagnosis can be made quicker and a treatment plan can begin even before the patient arrives in the Emergency Department.