Providing Lifesaving Care to the East End
The fully equipped Cardiac Catheterization (Cath) Laboratory at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital provides emergency and elective treatments administered by Stony Brook University Heart Institute specialists.
When every minute counts, you can count on us.
A myocardial infarction, or heart attack occurs when a coronary artery becomes completely occluded, interrupting blood supply to the heart muscle. Medical therapy alone does not resolve this as quickly as placing a coronary stent. The standard of care for a person experiencing a heart attack is that the blocked artery should be opened within 90 minutes of contact with medical care. That procedure can only be done in a cardiac catheterization lab by highly skilled cardiologists. The Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Cath lab saves lives by providing more immediate intervention for serious heart events such as myocardial infarctions (heart attacks). A delay in restoring blood flow through an artery can increase the likelihood of significant damage to the heart.
Lifesaving Procedures Close to Home
The team of cardiologists at SBSH’s Cath Lab perform percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a non-surgical procedure in which a physician inserts catheters through an artery in the wrist or at the hip to reach the heart. The PCI treatments at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital include emergency and elective procedures that can include:
- Cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography: used to provide detailed assessment of the heart’s performance, including its valves and the coronary arteries, and to locate blockages or narrowing of the arteries.
- Angioplasty: a procedure that involves inserting a balloon-tipped catheter to clear blocked arteries.
- Stenting: a procedure in which the physician implants an expandable metal coil in a narrowed artery to keep it open.
- Percutaneous Left Ventricular Assist Device placement: a treatment for cardiogenic shock that implants a tiny device in the left ventricle of the heart to improve blood flow and stabilize the patient for transfer for further treatment
The lab has sophisticated imaging and computing found in the most advanced facilities, including:
- A fluoroscopy arm, which is a mobile x-ray arm, allows physicians to visualize the coronary arteries during the procedure.
- Advanced, hemodynamic monitoring capabilities measure pressure inside the chambers of the heart or lungs, allowing physicians to make diagnostic and treatment assessments.
- Intravascular ultrasound: uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of the inside structure and walls of the arteries, to help the physician determine extent of disease.
- Intracoronary pressure measurement to delineate the hemodynamic significance of borderline lesions to determine the appropriate management.
When necessary, patients in need of further treatment or surgery can be transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital.
24/7 Staffing from Highly Trained Stony Brook Specialists
The Southampton lab is staffed every day, around the clock, by Stony Brook Heart Institute’s interventional cardiologists to diagnose and treat patients with heart disease.
“For patients who need emergency catheterization, Stony Brook’s ‘Code H’ protocol has produced an average ‘door-to-perfusion’ time of 56 minutes, almost 45 minutes below the New York State regulated treatment guidelines,” said J. P. Reilly, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.
Lab director and interventional cardiologist Travis Bench, MD, and Dhaval Patel, MD, cardiologist, have Stony Brook Cardiology practices in Center Moriches, Hampton Bays and Southampton.
In addition to Stony Brook physicians, a specially trained hospital staff will help care for patients:
- Critical care nurses and technicians assist during PCI procedures and provide care in cardiac unit at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.
- Interventional radiology nurses provide care and conscious sedation during procedures.
- Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) in house for management of patients post procedure and for consultation.