Cardiology

Our specialists understand you have a choice where you receive your cardiovascular care. Our goal is to meet your needs and work with you and your physician to improve your quality of life.

We provide a wide array of inpatient and outpatient cardiac diagnostic services. We also offer education to help you understand and prepare for cardiovascular tests.

Some of our heart and vascular testing services include:

• Abdominal aortic ultrasound
• Cardiac arrhythmia monitoring (21- and 30-day event monitors, 24- and 48-hour Holter monitors)
• Carotid artery ultrasound
• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Electrophysiology
• Nuclear stress test
• Peak blood flow velocity
• Tilt table test
• Transesophageal ECHO (TEE)
• Treadmill stress test

Our cardiologists, vascular specialists, nurses and other heart care specialists work together to provide efficient care for you. We offer the following heart and vascular treatments performed by a staff trained in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS):

• Arterial atherectomy — This minimally invasive procedure removes plaque from arteries.
• Cardiac catheterization — During this diagnostic procedure, a catheter is inserted into an artery and threaded through the blood vessels to the heart. Doctors can then visualize the chambers of the heart for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
• Coronary stenting and balloon angioplasty — A catheter with a small balloon at the tip is inserted near the blocked or narrowed area of the coronary artery. When the balloon is inflated, the plaque is pressed against the artery walls, increasing blood flow to the heart.
• Coronary thrombectomy — This procedure involves the removal of a thrombus, or blood clot, from the coronary arteries.
• Drug-eluting stents (DES) — These stents contain medication that is actively released at the stent implantation site to reduce the risk of restenosis, or re-narrowing of the artery.
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation — An ICD is a battery-operated device implanted under the skin to treat a heart arrhythmia. If an irregular rhythm is detected, the ICD sends an electric shock to regulate the rhythm.
• Lead replacement — ICDs and pacemakers have leads that attach to the heart. Through the lead, the devices send electric impulses to the heart to regulate its rhythm. A lead may need to be replaced for a variety of reasons.
• Pacemaker implantation — A pacemaker is a device implanted under the skin in the chest area. If it detects a slow or abnormal heartbeat, it delivers an electric impulse to the heart to induce a normal heartbeat.

Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. A large number of procedures can be performed on the heart by catheterization, which offers several benefits, such as:

• Easy accessibility of the artery in most individuals
• Easy control of bleeding, even in individuals who take blood thinners
• Increased comfort because individuals are capable of sitting up and walking immediately following the procedure

The emergency medicine team at our hospital is prepared 24/7 to treat your heart attack symptoms.

In fact, we have been an Accredited Chest Pain Center with Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) and Resuscitation by the American College of Cardiology since 2010. This means we are uniquely qualified to treat you if you are experiencing a heart attack.

Signs of a heart attack

The average person arrives to the emergency department more than two hours after the onset of symptoms. However, the sooner a heart attack is treated, the less damage to the heart and the better the outcome.

Initial heart attack symptoms include:

• Abdominal pain
• Anxiety
• Chest pain, burning, pressure or squeezing
• Fatigue
• Feeling of fullness
• Nausea
• Pain that travels down one or both arms
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating

You may not experience all of these symptoms, and the symptoms that women tend to experience can be less noticeable. These symptoms may come and go for days or weeks until finally becoming constant and severe.

If you or a loved one experiences symptoms of a heart attack, please don’t drive. Call 911.

Our heart care nurse navigator offers guidance during your journey, so you don’t have to face heart and vascular disease alone.

The nurse navigator supports and assists you throughout your care, through screening and education, as well as diagnosis and treatment.

Our nurse navigator services include:

• Assisting physicians with quickly scheduling tests
• Assisting physicians in receiving testing reports the same day
• Maintaining timely communication with the primary care physician as you move through testing modalities
• Providing education on cardiovascular risk factors, tests, treatments, preparations, expectations, medication actions and lifestyle changes
• Providing personalized and seamless coordination of services

If you have questions about your cardiovascular care before or after treatment, please call our care assure nurse navigator at (850) 767-2231.

HCA Gulf Coast Hospital is a proud partner of the Deputy Heart Attack program. This public outreach platform asks you to "Recognize and Respond" in the event of an emergency, applying what you've learned from Early Heart Attack Care (EHAC). Read more about this valuable program on their website.