Cardiac Services

Summit Medical Center offers a full compliment of cardiovascular diagnostic and treatment options to help prevent, treat and recover from heart disease and stroke. From screenings to diagnostic cardiac catheterization, from electrophysiology studies to rehabilitation, Summit’s services have earned a reputation for excellence.

Accredited Chest Pain Center

Summit Medical Center is an accredited Chest Pain Center through the Society of Chest Pain Centers. As an accredited Chest Pain Center, Summit strives to provide the best possible care for patients who enter the Emergency Room with complaints of chest pain. Patients with chest pain are immediately transferred from the waiting room to the ER examination area and undergo an electrocardiogram within 5 minutes of arrival. Protocols for appropriate medications, including aspirin and oxygen, are administered. A physician is summoned and reviews the electrocardiogram and sees the patient immediately. Our goal is to have patients who are having a heart attack diagnosed and treated within a 30 to 90 minute window depending on the treatment option that best meets the needs of the patient. Accreditation criteria include:

An established relationship with the Emergency Medical System for rapid transport to the ER
A process of rapid assessment of patients with symptoms of possible cardiac disease
Assessment and observation processes for patients who are not experiencing chest pain but who have cardiac risk factors
A facility design that promotes patient flow and rapid delivery of care
Personnel with advanced training in cardiac disease, active management and physician participation in the development and oversight of the center
Regular reviews of the program to identify opportunities for improvement
Community outreach educational programs

If your treatment plan includes cardiac surgery, Summit Medical Center partners with our 10 sister facilities in the TriStar family of hospitals to provide the precise cardiac surgical services needed for your plan of care.

HEART ATTACK: Know the Symptoms

More than a million Americans suffer a heart attack each year, and another 600,000 experience a stroke. The key to survival is recognizing the symptoms and getting fast treatment at a hospital. Early detection and immediate treatment may prevent further injury to the heart or the brain. Drugs such as tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), or other thrombolytic agents, must be administered within a very short window of time after the onset of symptoms.

Know the symptoms of heart attack and stroke, and seek care immediately if you, or someone you are with, experiences them.

Heart attack warning signs can include:

Pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in chest

Pain or numbness in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach

Shortness of breath

A cold sweat

Nausea or vomiting

Lightheadedness

Warning signs of stroke, also known as brain attack, may include:

Sudden numbness

Weakness

Difficulty speaking

Blurred vision

Dizziness

Severe headache

For more information on heart services at your TriStar hospital or for a free physician referral, please call TriStar MedLine at 615-342-1919 or 800-242-5662.

Cardiac Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA)

Images are taken with a 64-slice CT scanner and are reconstructed to reveal 3-D images of the heart and blood vessels. The procedure is minimally invasive, requiring an intravenous line and may or may not require oral medication to slow the heart rate during the procedure. The actual scanning requires approximately 5-7 seconds. The amount of coronary artery disease can be estimated from these images and the need for further testing can be determined.

Cardiac Calcium Scoring

Cardiac calcium scoring is a screening examination for coronary artery disease. A physician order is not required for the exam. Non-invasive computed tomography is used to capture images of the heart and coronary arteries. Images can identify calcium deposits in the coronary arteries, and the calcium “score” can be used to estimate an individual’s risk of developing coronary artery disease.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

Cardiac Rehabilitation is a medically supervised program of exercise and education for patients who have recently had heart surgery (bypass or valve), a heart attack or angina (chest pain). As patients work through a cardiac rehabilitation program, they gradually progress in time and intensity of exercise under the direction of trained nursing and exercise physiology staff. Throughout this process, their heart rate and heart rhythm are continuously monitored, and their blood pressure and oxygen saturation are intermittently monitored. The goal is to stabilize, slow or even reverse the damage caused by cardiovascular disease. In doing so, other debilitating heart conditions or events may be prevented.

Patients are also educated about how to judge the safety of occupational and recreational activities outside of the rehabilitation setting and are provided with education on risk factor modification, medication usage and the emotional aspects of heart disease.

Combining all aspects of cardiac rehabilitation for appropriate patients and conditions works to speed recovery and encourages hope and a positive outlook.

Diagnostic/Interventional
Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is an invasive cardiac procedure in which a catheter is advanced from an artery in the groin into the aorta and left ventricle. The catheter is placed at the origins of the left and right coronary arteries and dye is injected into these arteries while real time x-rays are performed. Blockages within the coronary arteries can be identified. In addition, a catheter can be advanced into the left ventricle and the wall motion contraction of the left ventricle can be estimated, essentially determining the pumping function of the heart. A vein may be used to enter the right side of the heart and evaluate its function for those individuals with valve disorders and pulmonary hypertension.

If blockages are identified during diagnostic cardiac catheterization, interventions may be performed to open up the lumen of the arteries and reduce the blockage to improve or restore blood flow. A catheter with a balloon on its end is placed in the area of the blockage and the balloon is inflated to reduce the blockage. Many times a stent is on the outside of the balloon and is deployed when the balloon is inflated. The balloon is then deflated and the stent stays in the artery at the area of the blockage to add additional support and prevent the artery from reoccluding.

EP Studies and Pacemaker/ICD Implants

Electrophysiology studies are invasive studies in which catheters are placed in the heart to record electrical activity of the heart muscle in patients with rhythm disorders (rhythms that are too fast or too slow). These catheters can also be used to subject the heart to electrical activity and to induce the heart to go into a symptomatic rhythm to help identify the origin of the rhythm. Some rhythms may be treated with ablation (burning) of the tissue which causes disruption of the electrical track that produces the rhythm. In other cases, a permanent pacemaker may be required. This device includes an electrical generator implanted into the shoulder and one or two lead wires placed in the chambers of the heart. These wires sense the heart’s own electrical activity and provide an electrical stimulus to cause the heart to beat when the heart fails to generate an impulse.

Automatic Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICDs) are devices that can act as pacemakers and provide the heart with electrical impulse to beat when the heart fails to provide its own impulse and they can be programmed to override pace in rhythms that are too fast to slow those rhythms down. In addition, ICDs can detect the onset of heart rhythms that are incompatible with life (i.e. lethal rhythms) and can generate an electrical shock to the heart that can restart the heart into a normal rhythm. These devices are implanted in the same way as pacemakers; however, they are larger in size than pacemakers.

Stress Testing/Nuclear Medicine Studies

Stress testing is used to determine the effect of exercise on the ability of the coronary arteries to supply blood to the heart muscle. Exercise stress testing is non-invasive and requires an individual to walk on a treadmill while the intensity of exercise is rapidly increased. Heart rate and rhythm as well as blood pressure and oxygen concentration are measured during this test and during the recovery period. This test can be combined with nuclear medicine, in which a radionucletide is injected during rest and during exercise to identify areas of the heart muscle that do not get enough blood flow during stress on the heart. For individuals who are unable to walk on a treadmill or exercise to a level where their maximum heart rate can be achieved, medications can be given to simulate stress on the heart and the nuclear scanning can be completed as noted above.

Transthoracic Echocardiogram/Transesophageal Echocardiogram

Transthoracic echocardiogram is a non-invasive ultrasonic study of the heart and its structures. This test provides information on the valve structures of the heart and on the pumping function of the walls of the heart. In addition, it can identify blood clots in the chambers of the heart. Transesophageal Echocardiograms are performed to obtain the same information; however, these are invasive examinations requiring conscious sedation and the advancement of a probe into the esophagus. This test is used when the patient is obese or has lung disease making visualization by transthoracic echocardiogram difficult on those patients in which a more detailed exam is required.