Abstract

Before patients enter the cardiac cath lab for a procedure, almost all have undergone one or more diagnostic tests, imaging studies, an electrocardiogram (ECG), or blood work such as serum troponin levels to confirm the likelihood of coronary artery disease. Tests and imaging studies include stress tests, echocardiography, nuclear imaging, positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography angiography (CTA), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These procedures aid in the detection and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease by isolating areas of cardiac pathology, myocardial viability, and likelihood of significant coronary artery disease. When these tests are positive, or suggestive of coronary artery disease, it is important to confirm the diagnosis with a cardiac catheterization. This article will discuss an overview of these non-invasive imaging modalities, their role in detecting cardiac and coronary artery disease, and how the cath lab staff can use this information in daily practice.

Abstract

Introduction. Left ventricular assist devices help in reducing the cardiac workload, and provide circulatory assistance and protection to the myocardium and vital organs in patients with severe systolic dysfunction. Impella 2.5, a percutaneous left ventricular assist device, is increasingly being used for circulatory support in patients with high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions. Severe peripheral vascular disease is a relative contraindication for Impella placement. Presence of vessel tortuosity, calcification, stents and stent grafts in the aortoiliac vasculature may hinder insertion of Impella.

Nurse’s Week allows us to set aside some time each year to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution nurses make in our world. This year, Nurse’s Week will be celebrated from May 6th (also known as Nurse’s Day) ending May 12th (Florence Nightingale’s birthday). Corazon would like to explore a little about what attracts people to select nursing as a career and to take this opportunity to applaud what they can, and do, contribute, to not only the cath lab team, but to healthcare every day.

Capnography is an underutilized technology that could potentially save lives. By definition, it is simply the measurement of a patient’s exhaled carbon dioxide represented as a waveform on a monitor, but it is so much more than that. It provides a real-time analysis of a patient’s ventilations and an indirect analysis of a patient’s level of sedation. Capnography has long been used by anesthesia providers in the operating room, but has, in recent years, slowly made its way into other areas outside of the operating room.