Heart Catheterization
Find exceptional heart care and services from expert UNC cardiologists at the Heart Center at UNC Health Nash. Work with a trained, dedicated heart care team to diagnose and treat your heart conditions.
High-Level Heart Care
Rely on UNC Nash to perform the heart tests and procedures you need at our Heart Center. If you live in a community within the Twin Counties, there’s no need to travel long distances for heart care. Find top-quality interventional cardiology services, such as heart catheterization and stent placement, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
What is Heart Catheterization?
A heart catheterization—also known as cardiac catheterization—checks how well your heart works. It is a minimally invasive procedure, performed at our Heart Center. You’ll be awake during your heart cath. Expect little to no pain afterward.
Diagnostic Heart Catheterization
To perform your heart catheterization, your doctor inserts a long, thin, flexible tube (catheter) through your arm or leg into a blood vessel and guides it to your heart. Your cardiologist uses heart catheterization as a diagnostic test to:
- Check how well your heart chambers move and contract
- Look for defects or structural problems in your valves or heart
- Measure blood flow and blood pressure in your heart
Coronary Angiogram
Your heart needs good blood flow to function properly. If you have coronary artery disease, your doctor may perform a coronary angiogram with heart catheterization to look at how blood flows through your arteries to your heart. Examining your arteries allows your cardiology to find places narrowed from plaque buildup or blockages.
Angioplasty
If your cardiologist finds a blockage in your blood vessel during your angiogram, they may decide to treat it right away. Your doctor can perform immediate angioplasty—also known as percutaneous coronary (heart) intervention (PCI)—at our Heart Center. PCI clears the narrowing or blockage in your artery and places a stent. The stent is a treatment to widen and keep your artery open to improve blood to flow to your heart.
Count on our team to perform emergency PCI if you have a severe heart attack from blood supply blockage to your heart. A quick response can return blood flow to your heart and save your life.
Advanced Cardiac Cath Lab
The UNC Nash Heart Center catheterization laboratory, or cath lab, has sophisticated, high-tech equipment to perform your heart catheterization procedure. You’ll appreciate the 12 dedicated heart catheterization pre- and post-procedure rooms for privacy during preparation and recovery. Two nurse’s stations to keep your care team close to you.
Progressive Cath Lab
Our modern, up-to-date cath lab was the first in the nation to feature an innovative cardiovascular and interventional imaging system. During your heart catheterization, the system pairs with a large display monitor to provide your doctor with sharper, more detailed heart images. That means your doctor can quickly and more accurately perform a stent placement if needed.
Take a virtual tour of the UNC Nash Heart Center and view pre- and post-procedure rooms and the heart cath lab.
Local Heart Care Partners
Our partnership between UNC Health Nash and UNC Cardiology at Nash enables patients to have stent placement procedures performed locally. Since 2014, the UNC Nash Heart Center has performed hundreds of catheterizations, which have resulted in life-saving stent placements.
Heart Care Close to Home
Feel confident you’ll get heart care from a friendly, knowledgeable health care team who lives in your community. Benefit from high-quality health care and specialized heart services close to home.
