Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is sometimes called, an angioplasty with stent. PCI is a non-surgical procedure that uses a catheter to place a stent in the blood vessel of the heart that has been narrowed by plaque build-up.

Adjunctive imaging can also be used to further assist in coronary intervention such as IVUS and OCT.

Diagnostic imaging such as Intravascular Ultrasound (or IVUS) lets cardiologists see inside a coronary artery in real time, yielding information beyond routine imaging methods such as coronary angiography or non-invasive Multislice CT scans.

Intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) can add value to angiography as a diagnostic and/or intervention tool for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) guidance.

This is a procedure which attempts to “bore out” a narrowing in a coronary artery which might not otherwise respond to stenting.

Intravascular Ultrasound (or IVUS) lets cardiologists see inside a coronary artery in real time, yielding information beyond routine imaging methods such as coronary angiography or non-invasive Multislice CT scans.

The heart is divided into four chambers. The upper chambers are called the right and left atria. The lower chambers are the right and left ventricles. In fetal circulation, the foramen ovale is an opening that allows blood to bypass the lungs and go directly from the right atria to the left atria. Shortly after birth, the higher pressure in the left atria and the lower pressure in the right atria causes permanent closure of the foramen ovale in the majority of people. A PFO occurs when the opening does not close. This opening can allow blood to pass from the right atria to the left atria. Many times a PFO is not discovered until adulthood.

PFO’s are suspected to be a cause of cryptogenic stroke (a stroke that cannot be linked to a specific cause). Some research suggests there may be a link between PFO’s and migraine headaches.

An ASD is a hole in the part of the septum that separates the atria—the upper chambers of the heart. This heart defect allows oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium to flow into the right atrium instead of flowing to the left ventricle as it should. Many children who have ASDs have few if any, symptoms.

Ischemic heart disease occurs when there is reduced blood supply to the heart.

People with structural heart disease fall into two categories:

1. People are born with the disease – i.e. a hole within the chambers of the heart
2. They acquire  SHD through wear and tear – i.e. a tight or leaky heart valve.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle has become too weak or too stiff to pump blood through the body as effectively as normal.

Heart arrhythmia refers to a group of symptoms where the heartbeat is irregular, too slow, or too fast. Arrhythmias are broken down into:

• Slow heartbeat (bradycardia).
• Fast heartbeat (tachycardia).
• Irregular heartbeat (flutter or fibrillation).
• Early heartbeat (premature contraction).