Cardiology

Heart hospital in Ventura and Los Angeles counties

For more than 50 years, Los Robles Regional Health System has led the way in providing a full range of diagnostic and treatment options for all areas of cardiovascular care.

Our team is focused on cardiovascular health, from diagnosis of heart disease to management of heart failure.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call our Consult-A-Nurse® line at (877) 888-5746.

Cardiovascular conditions we treat

Our heart doctors treat a variety of issues affecting the heart and blood vessels, including:

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Carotid artery disease
• Coronary artery disease
• Heart arrhythmias
• Heart valve disorders and other structural and congenital heart abnormalities
• Peripheral vascular disease

Our outcomes for heart care are consistently in the nation’s top 10 percent. Your cardiovascular physician or surgeon will choose the best approach to the treatment that is unique to you and your needs.

If you feel you are having a heart attack, please call 911 immediately.

Cardiac diagnostic tests

Doctors use diagnostic testing to identify cardiovascular abnormalities. Our non-invasive cardiovascular testing helps us gather information about the patient to assess how well the heart and blood vessels are working.

Electrocardiogram (EKG)

An EKG records the electrical signal from your heart to check for any problems. You may receive one of the following tests:

• 12-lead EKG: A 12-lead EKG is the standard EKG you can get at a doctor's office, with 12 electrodes recording your heart’s electrical signals on paper. Sometimes a doctor may want to see more than what a 12-lead EKG test can show and will order a Holter monitor or an event monitor for you to wear for a longer period of time.
• Tilt table test: Doctors perform a tilt table test to help diagnose heart-related fainting spells. During the exam, they try to recreate the symptoms you have when you faint to get an accurate diagnosis.
• Stress test: Stress tests allow your physician to see how your heart responds to exercise. This test uses a treadmill or medication to speed up your heart rate. At times, an echocardiogram will be performed to give the physician ultrasound images to see how your heart is working when exercising.

Echocardiogram

An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of your heart. The images obtained during an echocardiogram give clear pictures of the walls, chambers and size of your heart.

Doctors may perform a transesophageal echocardiogram to get a closer look at your heart from inside your esophagus or throat. These ultrasound images can give them more detailed information about problems with the walls or chambers of your heart.

Heart catheterization

A heart catheterization looks inside the arteries that feed your heart muscle. This is also known as an angiogram.

In a heart catheterization, doctors place a small tube through an artery in your groin or arm. They float a long, thin catheter up to the coronary arteries and inject a small amount of dye that is visible by an X-ray machine. They then look for any blockages.

Your cardiologist may also inject a larger amount of dye to see how strong your whole heart muscle is working. This can also illuminate any problems with the valves between the chambers of the heart.

Vascular ultrasound

A vascular ultrasound gives your physician information about the vessels of your body, from the arteries in your brain down to the veins in your lower legs. These ultrasound images help to show how fast your blood is moving through your vessels.

Ankle-brachial index test

Our clinical staff can also perform an exam called an ankle-brachial index test that looks for peripheral arterial disease. The test compares the blood pressure at your ankle with the blood pressure in your arm. A difference could mean that the arteries in your legs may be narrowed or blocked.

Non-surgical cardiac procedures

In non-surgical heart procedures, interventional cardiologists use a catheter to repair parts of the heart such as damaged vessels or narrowed arteries.

Coronary angioplasty

Doctors use coronary angioplasty to open clogged or narrowed arteries in your heart. They float a small balloon-tipped catheter up to the blocked area in the coronary artery and then inflate the balloon to flatten the plaque against the artery wall so more blood can reach the heart muscle.

Coronary stent placement

A coronary stent is a small, slotted, round tube made of medical-grade stainless steel designed to support the wall of an artery. This is used when the interventional cardiologist feels it is needed to prevent re-narrowing of the area (restenosis).

Doctors place the stent over a balloon catheter, pass it through the blockage and expand it to stay inside the artery. Over the course of the following weeks, your cells form a natural covering that holds the stent securely in place. Metal detectors or appliances such as microwaves will not affect your stent.

We can place stents in coronary arteries, peripheral arteries in the legs or renal arteries, which supply blood to the kidneys.

Drug-eluting coronary stent

A drug-eluting stent releases a drug at the stent implantation site that limits the overgrowth of normal tissue as the healing process occurs. Studies have shown that this process significantly lowers the incidence of repeat procedures.

Coronary atherectomy

Coronary atherectomy is designed for patients with coronary arteries plagued by drastic calcium buildup and for whom procedures such as balloon angioplasty have proven to be ineffective. In these cases, doctors may use a catheter with a tiny diamond-coated drill tip to shave away the plaque on the inside of a blood vessel, allowing more blood to flow freely.

Medication

Some patients may not be good candidates for coronary intervention because of the complexity of their disease or because of other underlying diseases. In this case, a doctor will use medications to improve blood flow and to help provide the best control over symptoms such as pain or shortness of breath.

Cardiovascular surgery

New advancements in cardiovascular surgery mean that repairs and replacements that once only lasted a few years now last decades. Our surgeons are skilled in the latest techniques, including the following procedures:

Coronary artery bypass surgery

In coronary bypass surgery, surgeons bypass or graft a blockage you may have in one of your coronary arteries with a blood vessel from another part of your body. The vessels chosen by the surgeon to use as the bypass graft will depend on what you have available and could come from a leg, arm or artery from your chest wall.

The surgeon uses the graft to bypass the blockage, similar to using a road detour. The blood can then flow freely around the blockage through the graft and into the heart.

Valve surgery

Valve surgery may be needed when the valves of the heart become diseased. This means the valves either don’t completely close or they don't open correctly, becoming narrowed and stiff. Doctors can perform a surgical procedure to repair any of your four heart valves and keep blood flowing in the correct direction.

Congenital heart abnormalities

These structural heart abnormalities are present at birth. Congenital heart abnormalities can range from a small hole in the heart to missing parts of the heart. Sometimes, a person may not show any signs of congenital heart disease until they're an adult.

Surgery can sometimes fix these abnormalities and allow people to live a normal, healthy life.

Other cardiovascular surgeries

Other surgeries we perform to treat the effects of cardiovascular disease include:

• Aortic aneurysm repair
• Combination bypass and valve surgeries
• Maze procedures for atrial fibrillation

Cardiac rehabilitation

Our cardiologists and registered nurses are here to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease within Ventura County. Our cardiac rehabilitation program is designed to help our patients get back to a productive, active lifestyle after a heart attack or heart surgery.

Clinical trials

Our heart team conducts research for a wide range of cardiovascular disorders and offers patients opportunities to participate in research and clinical trials currently underway at Los Robles.