Advancements in cardiac imaging

CARDIAC IMAGING

Innovative new treatments rely on advanced cardiac imaging

Advanced cardiac imaging enables the accurate diagnosis and treatment of heart disease – and is absolutely vital to the growing number of interventional heart procedures requiring intraoperative imaging. “The progress made in the last few years in the realm of cardiac imaging has distinguished our cardiovascular program from all of the rest,” said Ron Roberts, MHA, director of Cardiovascular Services, Baptist Health.

Cardiac MRI

Cardiac electrophysiologists at Baptist Health who specialize in implanting defibrillators rely on the cardiac MRI team for advanced imaging. “Precise assessment of anatomic details particular to each patient is vital for the success of these procedures. In addition, our ability to image myocardium and identify abnormalities at tissue level also has improved, thanks to advances in cardiac MRI,” said Roberts. “In the past three years, our volume has grown tenfold in this area, and the word is out that Baptist Health is the place to go for cardiac MRI.” In fact, Baptist Heart Hospital is one of only four heart centers in the state participating in a prestigious national clinical trial involving cardiac MRI and STEMI DTU (Door-to-Unload). “Our ability to treat complex structural heart diseases has been transformed due to Praveen Kanaparti, MD, FACC, RPVI continued innovation Cardiologist, Director, Advanced Cardiac and acquisition of Imaging new knowledge in transcatheter valve therapies. Advanced cardiac imaging is an integral and critical component of this process,” said Praveen Kanaparti, MD, FACC, director of advanced cardiac imaging.

Cardiac CTA

Cardiac CTA (computed tomography angiography), which combines a CT scan with an injection of dye, plays an important role in the Structural Heart Program at Baptist Health, especially when it comes to minimally invasive Transcatheter Aortic Replacement (TAVR™) procedures and other therapies. “For TAVR, a CTA helps our interventional cardiologists determine the appropriate type and size of the prosthesis and also helps predict and prepare for potential complications,” Roberts said.

Praveen Kanaparti, MD, FACC, a cardiologist with Baptist Heart Specialists, is the director of advanced cardiac imaging.

CARDIAC IMAGING

Ken Adams, MD, FACC Cardiologist Andre Macedo Dias, MD Cardiologist Shreya Ghetiya, MD Cardiologist, Co-Director, Echo Program J. H. “Houston” Mooney, MD Cardiologist Alejandro Pena, MD Cardiologist

A CT scan can help cardiologists diagnose conditions associated with abnormal blood flow, like PVD. Deysi Marts, a lead CT technologist, operates a CT scanner at Baptist Medical Center Beaches. Recently, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association assigned a Class 1A status to coronary CTA for the evaluation of patients with chest pain and no known coronary artery disease.

Vascular ultrasound

Vascular ultrasound imaging is an important component of evaluating and treating peripheral vascular disease (PVD), which can cause pain and poor circulation in the legs and arms. Baptist Health has several highly trained cardiologists who specialize in peripheral interventions. This select group includes Siddharth Wayangankar, MD, Nayan Agarwal, MD, Salil Patel, MD, Bharat Gummadi, MD, Alejandro Pena, MD, and Nehu Patel, MD, for venous disease. Dr. Wayangankar, a structural interventionalist, also performs minimally invasive endovascular carotid artery stenting, formerly a neurovascular procedure that crossed over to cardiology.

Echocardiography

Alcohol septal ablation is an interventional procedure that helps treat patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). Dr. Wayangankar is trained to perform this procedure and is the only one doing it in North Florida. These challenging HOCM procedures require echocardiography as well as cardiac MRI support.

A fellowship-trained cardiologist who is board certified in echocardiography, Shreya Ghetiya, MD, is experienced in transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiogram, including 3D image acquisition and interpretation in valvular and intra-procedural structural echocardiography. Her research has appeared in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology and The Journal of Geriatric Cardiology. “I have a great interest in interventional echocardiography and take pride in being involved in intra-procedural imaging,” Dr. Ghetiya said.

Reaccredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in echocardiography in the areas of adult transthoracic, transesophageal and stress.

J.H. “Houston” Mooney, MD, a cardiologist at Baptist Medical Center Nassau, specializes in echocardiography and cardiac CT imaging.