Cath Lab

With eight full-service digital catheterization labs, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare is ready to help guide you through your cardiac catheterization or other cardiovascular diagnostic test.

Jewish Hospital is proud to be the only facility in Louisville offering groundbreaking cardiovascular procedures and catheterizations with the Stereotaxis GentleTouch™ Magnetic System, providing minimally invasive treatment for such conditions as arrhythmias, heart failure and coronary heart disease. To learn more about the Stereotaxis System, click here.

The variety of treatment modalities offered across the system ensure the utmost in patient care, whether it is for a scheduled procedure or an emergency intervention.

What is a cardiac catheterization? 

Specializing in diagnosing heart disease, cardiac catheterizations provide the clearest look at the arteries that supply the heart muscle. A physician inserts a thin plastic tube, or angiography catheters, into an artery or vein in the arm or leg. From there it can be advanced into the chambers of the heart or into the coronary arteries.

Contrast media (sometimes called dye) is injected through the catheter while x-ray images, or angiograms, are taken. The dye causes areas where blood flows, including vessels and heart chambers, to temporarily become darker than the surrounding tissue. This enables the physician to see how effectively your heart is pumping, and to determine if there are any narrowed blood vessels.

Not only evaluating the pumping ability of the heart, the test also evaluates the functioning of heart valves and takes pressure measurements. It helps diagnose the location and severity of blockages, coronary artery disease, defective heart valves, congenital heart defects and disease of the heart muscle.

Additional cardiac cath lab procedures performed at JHSMH include:

• Angioplasties
• Cardiac Mapping
• Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
• Catheter Ablation
• Coronary angiographies
• Drug-eluting stents

No matter what procedure is chosen to help diagnose your cardiovascular complications, Jewish Heart Care will be there every step of the way, offering the best care possible.

Patients or physicians interested in learning more about additional cath lab services can call .