St. Luke Hospitals: Heart Services

Heart Services at the St. Luke Hospitals

The Cardiology Centers of The St. Luke Hospitals offer the most modern, efficient, state-of-the art catheterization equipment in the Tristate area.

Cardiac Catheterization

The catheterization labs in The Cardiology Centers at St. Luke Hospitals East and West offer patients the best care available. With interventional cardiac procedures, when you have sharper, faster, more flexible imaging, you have increased potential for providing optimum care.

St. Luke is the first in the area (and one of the first in the nation) to use the new Kodak Digital Science imaging equipment. This catheterization imaging equipment is a filmless digital system, which is expected to soon be the worldwide standard.

Filmless digital systems enable the cardiologist to view the procedure, in real time, from a distant location and allows instant access to the images by the consulting cardiologist or surgeons.

Image quality is optimized for viewing during the procedure through variable image magnification without the "blocky" effect of other techniques. As the procedure is taking place, the system is passing the images to a review station for immediate availability to lab personnel, and to an archive station for placement on a CD. This expedites clinical diagnosis and therapeutic decision making. Patient studies may be duplicated after the original archive session without loss of the original digital image quality. This system also links the two St. Luke Cardiology Centers for the convenience of physicians.

Echocardiography

The St. Luke Hospitals offer state-of-the-art digital equipment at both Cardiology Centers which allow the cardiologist to evaluate valve structure, wall motion, as well as the size of the heart and various chambers. Echo provides an excellent diagnostic tool for many cardiac abnormalities.

Stress Echocardiography

Stress echo is an excellent non-invasive procedure that allows physicians to diagnose potential conditions such as coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. With stress echo, cardiologists get all the diagnostic advantages of an echocardiogram and the ability to view the heart's wall motion before and after exercise. Here again, the equipment is all digital which displays an excellent image and allows the cardiologist to review the images of the heart at rest and after exercise simultaneously side-by-side. Two treadmills at each cardiology center allow multiple tests simultaneously, thus decreasing the waiting time for patients and increasing the diagnostic responsiveness for physicians.

Inpatient Coronary Care

When Northern Kentuckians need hospitalization for heart problems, they can rely on The St. Luke Hospitals' Coronary Care Units to provide the most up-to-date technology. St. Luke opened the first Coronary Care Unit (CCU) in Northern Kentucky. Since that time, St. Luke services have expanded to include 27 state-of-the-art critical care beds and 45 telemetry beds.

Just as important as technology, the CCU staff is specially trained to care for coronary patients. Every CCU staff member is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support. Adding to the level of care, CCU has two full-time intensivists, physicians who are specially trained in the care of critically ill patients.

The Coronary Care Unit also provides outpatient services and administers inotropic infusions for patients with congestive heart failure.

CCU offers technology and the warm, personal touch patients deserve. To find out more about our inpatient services, please call (859) 572-3260 at St. Luke East or (859) 212-4211 at St. Luke West.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

The Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center of The St. Luke Hospitals offers medically supervised and educational programs especially designed to help patients regain and maintain the highest quality of life possible. The services are geared to meet the needs of patients who have undergone heart procedures as well as those who have diabetes or lung problems.

We can help patients:

build strength and endurance
gain confidence to return to the activities they enjoy
learn to adjust eating habits to their new diets
meet others who have gone through similar experiences

The specialized rehab team includes cardiac nurses, cardiologists, dietitians, exercise physiologists, diabetes resource nurses and insurance consultants.

The patient's physician and cardiologist receive periodic reports on the patient's recovery. For more information, please call (859) 212-3260.

Cardiac Risk Reduction Center

The St. Luke Hospitals have opened the Cardiac Risk Reduction Center. We are enhancing Northern Kentucky’s first Congestive Heart Failure program so patients can get a full scale of cardiac risk reduction and treatment management programs, all at one location. Click here for more information.