Dr. Jeffrey A. Breall also heads our Interventional Cardiology Training Program.

Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is a common, nonsurgical procedure that allows physicians to determine if there is any narrowing in the arteries leading to the heart. It also shows the physician the outside heart size and pumping ability, the inside chamber size, and how well the valves open and close. The procedure is done by inserting a small flexible tube (catheter) into a blood vessel and gently advancing it to the heart. Blood pressure measurements are taken and moving X-ray pictures (angiograms) are recorded. The cardiac catheterization is considered the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

Coronary angioplasty, sometimes called PCI, is a catheter-based procedure performed by an interventional cardiologist in order to open up a blocked coronary artery and restore blood flow to the heart muscle. Angioplasty is a procedure that uses a catheter, small balloon and stent threaded through a blood vessel in the groin or arm and then guided into a heart (coronary) artery to open blocked or narrowed coronary arteries. It is minimally invasive and can often be an alternative to coronary artery bypass surgery.  Angioplasty is used in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) to relieve chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart and to minimize damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack (which occurs when blood flow is cut off to an area of the heart). It is less invasive, less expensive, and faster to perform, with the patient usually returning home the next day. Balloon angioplasty, atherectomy (surgical removal of arterial plaque), stent deployment and direct intervention for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) are among the procedures routinely performed by Krannert cardiologists.