Treatment Options for Heart Disease

Since arteries and veins are the main highways of blood to and from your heart, any obstruction to proper blood flow can cause serious problems in your heart and body.

If you’re having a heart attack, we have experts with exactly the right tools to quickly find the problem. The advanced Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Lake Forest Hospital allows our cardiovascular specialists to detect and repair dangerous blockages when your life depends on it. Our surgeons and specialists are among the best in Chicago and save lives each month through intervention in the nick of time.

Depending on your type of heart disease and/or any complications, the following treatments are available at Lake Forest Hospital. All are performed in our advanced Cardiac Catheterization Lab by Lake Forest Hospital cardiologists and cardiac electrophysiologists.

• Coronary Angioplasty and Stent
• Cardiac Ablation, or Radiofrequency Ablation
• Pacemaker Insertion
• Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD) Insertion
• Biventricular Pacemakers
• Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

While Lake Forest Hospital does not currently perform heart surgeries, we work with some of the best heart surgeons and hospitals in the nation and can refer you to them for further care. However, national trends are showing that heart surgery is needed less and less, as increasingly advanced and less invasive treatments can often provide results without necessitating open heart surgery.

To learn more about treatment options for heart disease, contact Lake Forest Hospital Diagnostic Cardiology at (847) 535-8072. To find a Lake Forest Hospital physician or cardiologist, visit our Online Physician Directory or contact (847) 535-6171.

Coronary Angioplasty & Stent

Your doctor may recommend this procedure, which is performed in our new Cardiac Catheterization Lab, to clear blockages in your heart. During an angioplasty, a thin flexible tube is threaded from your groin to the damaged artery. A small balloon then inflates in the blocked artery to reopen it; a metal coil called a stent is often placed in the artery to help keep it open.

Cardiac Ablation, or Radiofrequency Ablation

Catheter ablation is used to selectively destroy areas of the heart that are causing a heart rhythm problem. During this procedure, a flexible, thin tube called a catheter is guided via X-ray into the blood vessels; it is directed to the specific areas of the heart your doctor has identified as the cause of your arrhythmia.

A burst of radiofrequency energy destroys the very small areas of tissue that cause abnormal electrical signals, creating a scar that alters the pathway of your heart’s electrical impulses. Cardiac ablation can also be used to treat atrial flutter and AV-nodal reentrant tachycardia.

Pacemaker

Pacemakers are devices that “pace” the heart rate when it is too slow (bradycardia) by monitoring and regulating the heart’s rhythm and transmitting electrical impulses to stimulate the heart if it is beating too slowly.

A small battery-driven device is placed under the skin near the collarbone in a minor surgical procedure. A wire extends from the device to the right side of the heart, where it's permanently anchored. Most people stay in the hospital one to two days after a pacemaker is implanted.

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs)

ICDs are small devices implanted in your chest to continuously monitor your heart rhythm. They can correct a rapid, chaotic or irregular heartbeat using an electrical shock to reset your heart to its regular rhythm.

A small, battery-powered unit is placed under the skin near the left collarbone in a minor surgical procedure. One or more electrode-tipped wires from the ICD run through veins to the heart. ICDs are 99% effective in stopping life-threatening arrhythmias.

Biventricular Pacing

Unlike a standard pacemaker, which stimulates only one side of your heart's main pumping chamber (the right ventricle), a biventricular pacemaker stimulates both the right and left ventricles to make the heart beat more efficiently.

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

The FDA recently approved this type of therapy, in which an implanted device paces both the left and right ventricles (lower chambers) of the heart simultaneously. This resynchronizes muscle contractions and improves the efficiency of the weakened heart.