Cardiologist FAQ

Osceola does have a very busy nuclear program where we stress tests including stress tests for people who can't walk. And we use a substance that has a small amount of radioactive activity in it to take pictures of the heart. So the substance goes to the heart muscle in direct proportion to the blood flow and we can detect areas of the heart where there is insufficient blood flow. This is called nuclear stress testing and basically we do it dozens of time every day at the hospital here.

The is called aortic stenosis and because the aortic valve doesn't open properly the left ventricle the main chamber of the heart has to work harder to squeeze blood thru a smaller and smaller orifice. And eventually when the valve gets really small the left ventrical finds it difficult to cope and begins to fail. / In that situation the treatment is to surgically remove the valve and replace it, and the surgeons at our hospital are very good at doing that. We have the only surgeon in Central Florida that is able to do it with a minimally evasive incision, a small incision on the right side of the chest which is a unique skill.

What ablation is practically it can mean two things, exactly you burn the electrical circuit or you freeze the electrical circuit. I give my patients examples of soldering it's like when you solder to metal, you hold it together. So it's pretty much a specialized wire. / The way the procedure is once the you are past the simple stuff, taking medication, you re-do an electrical study of the heart what is called an EP study an Electrophysiology study where this is normally done under an conscious sedation through your groin ,a couple of wires are placed in your heart in strategic locations basically we look to find out where is the short circuit and if we prove what the different areas it can be based on its location it can be burnt. / What it is, is a special kind of wire where we heat and burn the tissue there distorting the short circuit, we can also freeze it using a cooling technology.

Time is short when a patient is having a heart attack. Accessing the heart through the femoral artery in one's leg is not always the best option. Our hospital can utilize the radial artery in the wrist to provide swift, lifesaving treament for STEMI

Time is short when a patient is having a heart attack. Accessing the heart through the femoral artery in one's leg is not always the best option. Our hospital can utilize the radial artery in the wrist to provide swift, lifesaving treament for STEMI