Coronary Heart Disease, Angioplasty and PCI
Coronary Heart Disease
Dorset County Hospital provides a full range of diagnostic and treatment services for all aspects and presentations of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). CHD includes heart attacks and angina and usually presents with chest pain.
In our department, we have a rapid access clinics which are urgent clinics available for patients who need immediate care by our consultant and nurses. They are split up into the Rapid Access Heart Failure Clinic, the Rapid Access Cardiology Clinic and the Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic.
We are able to perform various types of testing to investigate for CHD such as CT coronary angiogram, invasive angiography and stress echocardiogram.
We have two Cardiac Catheter Labs with facilities for Percutanous Coronary Intervention (PCI) with balloon angioplasty, stent implantation, pressure wire assessment, intravascular ultrasound, distal protection and rotablation.
Percutanous Coronary Intervention
Angioplasty and stenting
Angioplasty is the procedure of inserting, then inflating, a small balloon in the blocked coronary artery to restore blood flow. A stent is a wire mesh tube, which is usually then placed into the previously blocked area to ensure it remains open.
Primary PCI
In the past patients who suffered a particular type of heart attack known as a STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction) were given thrombolysis (clot-busting drugs) but clinical evidence has shown that using angioplasty as the primary treatment (such as 'Primary PCI') for heart attack patients reduces complications and improves recovery rates.
PCI Consultants
Dr Fraser Witherow
Dr Javed Iqbal
Dr Edney Boston Griffiths
Dr Usha Rao
Chest Pain Nurse Specialists
Helen Dell
Louise Smith