What type of procedures are performed at your facility?

A variety of procedures are performed on approximately 125 adult patients per week. Procedures include angioplasty, stenting, AngioJet® thrombectomy (Possis Medical, Inc., Minneapolis, MN) and Export Aspiration Catheter (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN), iLab Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) (Boston Scientific, Maple Grove, MN), FilterWire (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA), PolarCath (CryoVascular Systems, Inc./Boston Scientific), SmartWire Pressure System (Volcano Therapeutics, Inc., Rancho Cordova, CA), directional coronary atherecto

To be fair, pediatric interventional cardiologists began paving the way in the 1990s with endovascular repair of congenital heart defects, but the field is expanding to include adult patients. Interestingly, some adults who have had surgical repair of their congenital heart defects as infants or children repair that often can now be done percutaneously are now in need of revision, which in some cases can be done endovascularly.

Structural heart disease itself is a bit of an ambiguous umbrella term for any condition related to the heart and major arteries, rather than the smaller blood ves

The most important thing has been the consistent reports of the positive benefits for patients undergoing transradial procedures. Interventional tools are getting smaller, and virtually all of the procedures interventionalists perform can now be done transradially. Previously the need for smaller catheters was a limitation to the technique; the radial artery is obviously smaller than the femoral artery. But now there really are no technical disadvantages when you go to transradial access.

Another important development is that the honeymoon period for femoral closure devices is now over. P

Can you describe the TC-WYRE study?

The TC-WYRE (TAXUS® Stent-Cypher® Stent What's Your Real World Experience) study is a large, retrospective clinical evaluation of one-year outcomes among 1,558 patients who received either a TAXUS Stent or Cypher Stent at 19 centers throughout the United States. TC-WYRE is a real-world study of drug-eluting stents (DES). In other words, it evaluated the real, complex, diverse patient population we treat every day in our cath labs. The primary endpoint of the study was target vessel revascularization (TVR) at one year. This study is sponsored by B

Webster’s Dictionary defines orientation as familiarization with and adaptation to a situation or environment.

Over the past 20 years, I have been involved in training cath lab techs and nurses in some capacity or another. Throughout my total 30 years of cardiac catheterization experience, I have found one of the greatest deficiencies across labs to be the variation and disjointedness of the new hires orientation process. The orientation models currently in use typically leave new hires feeling overwhelmed. Many labs have adopted a sink-or-swim orientation process where definitive, dida

The year has also provided us with more information about how best to manage myocardial infarction beyond door-to-balloon time both directly and through improved pharmacology. The prevention of renal dysfunction during interventional studies remains of high interest in our field.

Let's start with the downside of DES. To reiterate, the biggest advance in the invasive treatment of coronary artery disease in the last decade is the drug-eluting stent. DES lowered the stent-related restenosis rate and remains highly effective for treating a variety of complex lesions. However, the downside o

Just a note to compliment Dr. Morton Kern on his recent Editor's Corner in Cath Lab Digest (The Scope of Practice in the Cath Lab: Are there limits as to what cath lab staff should do?, October 2006). I have worked in the cath lab at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier since it opened in February of 1977.

Dr. Kern's article was one of the most complete and carefully thought out breakdowns of duties in the cath lab I have seen. It truly is about taking responsibility in our areas of expertise, through education and experience, sharing that with our co-workers and providi

SICP Chapter News
As usual, the cath lab professionals in the Gulf Coast Region continue to make my dream come true. In 2003, we organized the Gulf Coast Chapter with a vision of providing a venue for cath lab staff to network and receive educational credits. Staff around the area supported the chapter by joining the SICP, attending meetings, and getting involved. Our meetings average 60 attendees. Industry representatives supported us by helping fund meetings and providing speakers. Without their support, we would not be successful. We now have our meetings scheduled a year in advance

Answer: Unfortunately, no. Here is the reason why it probably cannot be done. RT to RPA is comparable to RN to MSN. Like the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) or Nurse Practitioner (NP), the Radiologic Physician Assistant is considered to be an RT advanced practitioner. Radiologic Technology is a profession related to completing a specific educational program. An RT is certified by the American Registry of Radiological Technologists (ARRT) after completing an accredited educational program, and passing a certification exam. This gives the practitioner the right to use the title Registered

All of us who have chosen to work in cardiac catheterization and EP laboratories come from a variety of backgrounds: nursing, cardiovascular technology, radiologic technology, respiratory therapy, emergency medical technology, and others. We comprise a group of allied health professionals, which generically can be termed invasive cardiovascular professionals. We are committed to administer the highest quality patient care by working as a cohesive team with physicians and each other. The quote above from Gutzon Borglum the artist, sculptor, and engineer who created the Mount Rushmore National M