Catheterization Laboratories: Overview

The cardiac catheterization laboratory provides the region's highest level of diagnostic and treatment options in interventional cardiology. The laboratory is staffed 24 hours a day to handle emergency and emergent procedures for local patients as well as for those transported from regional community hospitals by our advanced response team, DHART.

The laboratories comprise six rooms in total; four dedicated for cardiac catheterization and two for electrophysiology and are interchangeable. All rooms are cine/digital capable with digital image processing, pulsed and variable rate fluoroscopy, assuring room flexibility to accommodate various procedures. A recently installed Heartlab system for digital image acquisition and archiving enables all catheterization and echocardiography images to be stored long term and viewed from any location within DHMC.The cardiac catheterization laboratories perform more than 5000 procedures each year, including cardiac interventional cases in excess of 1500 per year. Case volume has been increasing at a rate of 5-10% every year.

In addition to our commitment to patient care and research, we also serve as the training ground for the next generation of physicians. (Our training program for interventional cardiologists has been in place since1988 with approximately 1-2 graduates each year.