Baptist Health Heart Scanning Services in Corbin, KY

- [Dr. Croce]

A cardiac CTA or cardiac computed tomography angiography is a heart imaging test. It uses CT technology with IV contrast to visualize the coronary arteries or other heart structures in detail. The purpose is to look for blocked or narrowed arteries and to look at other abnormalities of the heart such as the valves or if there are congenital abnormalities involving the heart. It is a little bit different than a regular CT because it does involve the injection of dye into one of the veins, and it also uses computers to help reconstruct thin slices through your heart into a three-dimensional model so that we can visualize the structures more clearly.

Some of the benefits include a very short procedure time. Also, it's much less invasive than previously what we had done to look at the heart arteries, which involved threading catheters through the arteries. Cardiac CTA is not for everybody. People with irregular heart rates or heart rhythms, people who are severely obese, or people who may have already had stents placed in their heart vessels, that can affect the quality of the exam significantly and may not benefit from having the study done.

Cardiac CTA is a very advanced imaging tool, and it is a great benefit that our patients right here in Corbin have access to this imaging study without having to travel far distances to large cities.