Interventional Cardiology

Inside the heart without “open heart”

We’re leading the region in interventional cardiology, offering safer treatments through radial catheterization and our integrated cath labs/operating rooms.

A large number of heart procedures can be performed by catheterization. This most commonly involves inserting tiny catheters into an artery in the groin, arm, or wrist. The catheter is directed to the heart to measure pressure, take pictures of the arteries that feed the heart or fix blockages in the arteries.

Interventional cardiology procedures may include the following:

  • Angiograms – uses a special dye and x-rays to see how blood flows through your heart
  • Angioplasty – opens narrow or blocked blood vessels that supply blood to the heart
  • Inserting heart stents – a stent is a tiny tube placed into an artery to hold the artery open
  • Radial catheterization – a cardiac catheterization through the wrist

Aurora BayCare is a leader in expanding the use of wrist catheterization for addressing blockages. Almost 60% of our cardiac catheterizations enter through the wrist, compared to a 20% rate nationwide. Benefits of wrist catheterization include:

  • Shorter hospital stays
  • Fewer complications
  • More comfortable, less restrictions in mobility
  • Faster recovery

Hybrid OR Cath Labs

At Aurora BayCare, we house one of the most advanced catheterization facilities in the region. All our cardiac catheterization procedures are performed in hybrid OR cath labs.

By combining a cath lab (designed for minimally invasive procedures) with a fully-equipped operating room, we offer greater patient safety. This eliminates time-consuming transports in the event a patient needs more invasive care. It also enhances our traditional surgical capabilities by providing surgical teams with greater flexibility and more high-tech imaging tools than typically found in a standard operating room.

We were the first heart center in the region to offer hybrid OR cath labs, and we are the only local hospital to have more than one. (In fact, we have three.)

Mission Lifeline

Aurora BayCare Medical Center is the first hospital in Wisconsin to receive the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® Heart Attack Receiving Center Accreditation.

The accreditation program — sponsored by the American Heart Association and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care — recognizes centers that meet or exceed quality of care measures for people experiencing the most severe type of heart attack, ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), in which blood flow is completely blocked to a portion of the heart.