Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Ochsner Lafayette General

A cardiac catheterization lab, also called a cath lab, is a special type of examination room at the hospital. It is equipped with advanced diagnostic imaging that allows your cardiology team to look inside your heart after a tiny, thin tube called a catheter is inserted into a blood vessel that leads to your heart. This procedure, known as cardiac catheterization, can help your doctor determine how well your heart is functioning.

Cardiac catheterization provides valuable information about your heart muscle and its valves and blood vessels. During cardiac catheterization, doctors can perform minimally invasive procedures on your heart and blood vessels. Doctors can also confirm conditions that they cannot diagnose with other tests.

Tests and procedures a doctor can perform during cardiac catheterization include:

• Angioplasty and stenting. During these procedures, the doctor maneuvers a balloon-tipped catheter to the site of a blockage. As the balloon is inflated, the plaque (a thick, fatty substance) is pushed to the side. Often, a mesh tube called a stent is placed inside the artery to give it extra support.

• Measurements of pressures, blood flow and oxygen levels. By checking pressures and blood flow levels in the four chambers of the heart, your doctor can learn how well your heart pumps. Blood samples taken during the catheterization help measure oxygen levels in different areas of the heart.

• Imaging studies. By performing these tests, your doctor can learn more about the inside of the blood vessels and arteries. An intravascular ultrasound, for example, can help determine how much plaque is present and if stents are blocked. Fractional flow reserve allows the doctor to measure the pressure on either side of a blocked artery to determine if it needs treatment.

Numerous other minimally invasive interventional procedures that can improve your cardiovascular function and blood flow are also performed in a cath lab. However, a cath lab is not the same thing as an operating room for major heart surgeries.

Our scope of care sets us apart from other programs. Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center offers the largest cardiac catheterization lab in the Greater Lafayette area, with seven cath lab suites. The facility also:

• Has the largest number of cardiologists serving the region

• Has the largest number of cardiothoracic surgeons serving the region

• Performs the most procedures in the region, treating more than 4,000 patients annually

• Was awarded the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Chest Pain – MI Registry Performance Achievement Gold Award in 2022

In addition to our highly skilled catheterization lab staff, cardiologists with the Cardiovascular Institute of the South are board-certified in more than one specialty, including electrophysiology and interventional cardiology. We also have two cardiologists specializing in structural heart disease, and a hospital cardiologist is on-site seven days a week. We stay at the forefront of new procedures and technology, often bringing them to the area before anyone else.

Working with this state-of-the-art technology, our network of specialists can better detect and treat cardiovascular disease, all while performing groundbreaking research and offering access to clinical trials, when possible.

If you need a cardiac catheterization procedure in the Greater Lafayette area, Ochsner and the Cardiovascular Institute of the South have you covered. Our system of catheterization labs is designed for easy access — helping connect you to leading cardiovascular care when you need it most. We offer services at:

• Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center

• Ochsner St. Martin Hospital

• Ochsner University Hospital & Clinics

• Ochsner American Legion Hospital

At our Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center location — the largest cath lab of its kind in the region — we completed a $6 million, 25,000-square-foot expansion that includes four new state-of-the-art cath lab suites. Meanwhile, our all-new cath lab at Ochsner St. Martin Hospital features leading Philips technology to deliver advanced care. Our cath lab located at Ochsner University Hospital & Clinics provides further access to convenient care for patients across the Acadiana region.

Through our partnership with the Cardiovascular Institute of the South, we also offer telemedicine services at Ochsner Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital and Ochsner Acadia General Hospital that supplement our physical cath lab locations. Through these services, you can speak with a cardiologist via video call at any time, day or night, to discuss your condition and plan next steps.

Many cardiac cath lab procedures are outpatient, meaning you will be home the same day. Some procedures require you to be awake but given a mild sedative. Others will require anesthesia. During the procedure, your heart rate, heart rhythm, blood pressure and oxygen levels will be monitored.

Your doctor may perform cardiac catheterization to treat a blockage during a heart attack. Cardiac catheterization is also used to diagnose or treat congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease (narrowing of the vessels that supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart), peripheral artery disease (narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the legs from the heart), heart valve problems, problems with the heart’s rhythm (irregular heartbeats), heart defects present at birth and pulmonary hypertension.