Heart and Vascular Center
With a team of skilled and seasoned cardiologists and vascular surgeons, the Heart and Vascular Center centralizes a wide range of cardiac and blood circulation diagnostic and treatment services in one state-of-the-art facility. Located on the second floor of Tift Regional Medical Center’s $35 million building expansion on 20th Street, the Heart and Vascular Center combines service and quality in a warm, patient-sensitive setting.
Advanced Cardiac Diagnostic Services
The Heart Center offers non-invasive diagnostic testing such as electrocardiography (EKG), holter monitoring and cardiac ultrasound. Electrocardiography and holter monitoring are utilized to detect abnormal rhythms of the heart.
Cardiac ultrasound utilizes sound waves to identify any cardiac irregularity. Along these lines, vascular ultrasound can be utilized to identify blood flow constrictions in the lower extremities. Exercise stress testing is available to monitor the heart's activity during exercise to reveal blockages or narrowings in vessels of the heart. Tift Regional also offers nuclear medicine stress testing, which utilizes a contrast medium to visualize and diagnose heart disease.
Cardiac Catheterization, Angioplasty and Pacemaker Insertion
The Heart and Vascular Center’s Catheterization Lab utilizes some of the most advanced technology available to provide a wide range of minimally-invasive diagnostic procedures. Catheterization procedures involve guiding a small, hollow tube called a catheter through a blood vessel up to the heart. Using the catheter and rotating X-ray equipment above the patient, all of the hearts vessels can be seen in action to diagnose any blockage of arteries.
The Georgia Department of Community Health has selected Tift Regional Medical Center (TRMC) as one of 10 Georgia hospitals to take part in a national clinical trial of a life-saving heart procedure. The three-year study plans to demonstrate, as found in other studies, that hospitals can safely perform an angioplasty procedure called Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) without having open-heart surgery as a back-up measure in case of complications.
Performed in the TRMC Heart and Vascular Center’s cardiac catheterization lab, angioplasty is a minimally-invasive stenting procedure used to unblock clogged arteries. The Georgia Department of Community Health’s clinical study will waive the state’s requirement to have an open heart surgery program at the selected hospitals during the three-year trial period. To learn more about this study click here.
The Catheterization Lab staff are also trained to implant state-of-the-art pacemaker devices in a method that is cost-effective, efficient and convenient.
Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation
With skilled therapists, the Heart Center’s Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation unit monitors and improves the recovery process, increases physical fitness, and reduces the risk of new coronary and pulmonary events. It also teaches individuals about their disease, symptoms, and management, and helps individuals with heart disease to improve their coronary risk factors.
Available programs help participants stop smoking, lose weight, lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol and reduce emotional stress.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Blood Circulation Problems
With a fully-digital angiography lab, the center is able to diagnose and treat patients with vascular disease. Vascular disease refers to the unhealthy changes which occur in our blood vessels as we grow older. The most common disease process is known as atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries, which results in poor blood circulation. Many diabetics, at any age, may also be faced with these problems. Poor circulation to the brain due to blockage or hardening of neck arteries is also one of the leading causes of stroke.
Our highly-skilled vascular surgeons are here to work with your physician to help diagnose and treat blood circulation problems before they get out of control. Backed by a team of a seasoned cardiovascular technicians, therapists and nurses, you can count on the entire team at the TRMC Heart and Vascular Center to help you take charge of your health and get back into the flow.
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