Comprehensive Interventional Care   

Piedmont Heart Institute is a destination for interventional cardiology care and a leading international site for high-risk, surgical turn-down and complex coronary, structural and peripheral interventions.

With catheter-based treatments instead of open surgical procedures, the procedure is performed through a small tube inserted into the artery. This helps avoid long incisions and provides patients with a less painful, less risky procedure, often with the option for same-day discharge in many cases. Our heart team works together to evaluate your case individually, applying state-of-the-art research to help choose, with you, the best method to treat your condition. In conjunction with our surgical teams, we provide not just one opinion but several to enable you to have the best outcome.

Our services include:

• Alcohol septal ablation
• Aneurysm repair
• Aortic valve repair and replacement
• Atherectomy
• Atrial septal defect closure
• Balloon aortic valvuloplasty
• Balloon mitral valvuloplasty
• Cardiac catheterization
• Carotid angioplasty and stenting
• Carotid endarterectomy
• Chronic coronary total occlusions
• Complex coronary intervention
• Complex array of cardiogenic shock support devices, including intra-aortic balloon pump, Impella ventricular assist device placement and complete support with ECMO
• Coronary angioplasty and stenting
• Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG surgery)
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
• Embolectomy
• Endovascular revascularization of peripheral arteries and veins
• Intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABP)
• Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL)
• Mitral valve repair and replacement
• Patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure
• Percutaneous ventricular assist devices (pVAD)
• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, also known as angioplasty)
• Pericardiocentesis
• Stent graft
• Thrombolytic therapy
• Thromoboendarterectomy
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)
• Transcatheter mitral valve replacement
• Transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement
• Transmyocardial revascularization
• Transvenous lead extraction
• Tricuspid and pulmonic valve repair and replacement
• Ventricular septal defect closure
• Venous intervention

Multidisciplinary Heart Team Approach

Our interventional cardiologists, surgeons and cardiac imaging specialists collaborate as a heart team to assess and treat our patients for streamlined care.  Working with our highly skilled surgeons, our heart team provides hemodynamic support such as intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABP) or percutaneous ventricular assist devices (pVAD) to better circulate the blood during the highest risk and most complex procedures. This heart team approach increases safety measures and provides the highest quality care to improve patient outcomes.

Piedmont is a leading extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and critical care referral center. Our interventional cardiologists are members of the ECMO team, and many of them care for our patients in the Critical Care Unit, enhancing the continuity of care for all of our patients.

Advancing the Field

The expert heart team at Piedmont Heart Institute is leading the way for an improved interventional approach to care. Piedmont is an early adopter of the radial approach in several therapies. Accessing the artery in a patient’s wrist instead of the femoral artery in their thigh lowers the risk of bleeding, improves mobility and enhances patient comfort. It also permits many of our patients to be able to be discharged on the same day.

Our team is also helping to advance the field of interventional cardiology through research and clinical trials, serve as thought leaders in professional societies, and train the next generation of interventional cardiologists. Many members of this elite team have been recognized on the local, national and international levels for their expertise, experience and dedication to interventional cardiology.

Interventional Clinical Innovations

Piedmont Heart Institute is one of the highest-volume centers in the world for chronic total occlusions (CTOs). CTOs are blocked coronary arteries that have been so for more than six months. Though often asymptomatic, in some individuals, they lead to disabling chest pain and decreased quality of life. Given these arteries are blocked 100%, they face the greatest challenge to cross with guidewires and thence be able to treat with balloons and stents. We have been recognized as a world leader in the arena of CTO revascularization and are a training site for other interventional cardiologists who wish to learn these advanced techniques.

Other initiatives and innovations in Piedmont Heart’s Interventional Cardiology program include:

• An elite training site for the CHIP (Complex Higher-Risk and Indicated Patients) Program
• Teach live case courses on CTOs
• Teach orbital atherectomy courses
• 2nd in the world in enrollment in Analytics 4 Life artificial intelligence research
• PCI Clinical Variation Reduction Initiative
• Appropriate Use Criteria for PCI Improvement Initiative
• Same-Day Discharge Post-PCI Program
• Cardiogenic Shock Clinical Pathway

To Refer a Patient to Interventional Cardiology

We welcome the opportunity to assist in the care of your patient. Our team wants to work with you to provide the best treatment options for your patient.  We also offer follow-up care within our communities, so it’s more convenient for our patients. 

For more information about our interventional cardiology services at Piedmont Heart Institute, please call 404-605-2800 or use our convenient online search through our Find a Doctor tool.