As the area’s only teaching hospital, UT Medical Center repeatedly introduces and teaches new lifesaving procedures such as Carto 3-D mapping to correct abnormal heart rhythms.
The Cardiac Catheterization and Interventional Center performs an average of more than 3,800 procedures each year. It is the only facility in the Knoxville area providing cardiac catheterization for pediatric patients. Adult cardiac catheterization and interventional services include the following.
The Electrophysiology Lab, where the first catheter ablation was performed in the Knoxville area, is also part of the center.
The Catheterization and Interventional Center has been involved in several research trials over the past five years. For several years, Heart Lung Vascular Institute physicians have worked with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to assist in developing a procedure utilizing radiation to prevent re-narrowing after balloon angioplasty. The FDA recently approved a new procedure called Vascular Brachytherapy. This procedure uses radiation to keep the arteries from re-narrowing after they have been opened with angioplasty or coronary stent. |
