Four state-of-the-art Siemens cardiac catheterization laboratories are located in a self-contained suite in the Heart Institute adjacent to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. One of the laboratories is equipped to perform vascular interventional procedures and two of the laboratories are equipped with biplane imaging to facilitate evaluation of complex pediatric and adult patients.
More than 5,000 patients are evaluated and more than 1,500 interventional procedures are performed annually. Patients with a wide variety of heart diseases are seen in the laboratory. Stony Brook University Hospital offers the only full-service interventional program in Suffolk County, with physicians performing balloon angioplasty, intracoronary stenting, intravascular ultrasound, directional coronary atherectomy, rotational atherectomy, mitral and aortic valvuloplasty procedures, septal ablation for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ASD and PFO closures, carotid stenting and peripheral vascular diagnostic and interventional procedures. Our Code H program, that offers 24-7 availability of primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction, is the busiest in the area.
Attending physicians in the catheterization laboratory participate in a number of multicenter trials of new devices, techniques and drug treatments used in conjunction with cardiac interventions.
The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory rotation for trainees is intensive, with both first- and second-year fellows participating in the prospective evaluation of all patients, the performance of all procedures, interpretation of results of hemodynamic and angiographic studies, and decisions regarding therapeutic recommendations. A fourth year of training exclusively in interventional cardiology also is available.