INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY ❤

Today we followed Dr OUCHIHA and Dr DEFFARGES as they performed the 40,000th coronary angiography and the 22,500th angioplasty since the department opened in 1985.

"Hôpital Privé La Casamance has 2 rooms dedicated to cardiac and vascular catheterisation.

We carry out a range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures on a scheduled basis and in emergencies (myocardial infarction).

Coronary angiography enables the interventional cardiologist to visualise the coronary arteries (the heart muscle perfusion system).

A puncture is made in the radial or femoral artery, allowing a catheter (flexible tube) to be inserted into the arteries.

By injecting an iodinated contrast product, a substance that gives a better view of the heart's structures, it is possible to diagnose any narrowing or occlusion of an artery due to atherosclerosis.

This examination is carried out in the event of a myocardial infarction (in an emergency, at any time of the day or night), angina pectoris or a positive stress test, but it can also be requested before major surgery (heart surgery, for example).

At La Casamance, we have a number of complementary techniques available to complement and clarify the results of coronary angiography, if necessary:

• FFR (Fractional Flow reserve):
  Measurement of pressure upstream and downstream of a stenosis (narrowing of the caliber). This enables us to determine in real time whether a patient suffering from moderate stenosis (around 50%) should be treated with a stent or with medical treatment.
  
  
• OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography)
  With this examination, we obtain very high-definition images of the wall of the coronary artery using a special catheter with an infrared fibre.
  

Angioplasty

If the caliber of a coronary artery is narrowed, it is possible to perform percutaneous treatment of this narrowing by introducing a balloon on a guide placed at the end of the artery and inflating it to re-establish an adequate opening in the coronary artery, then implanting a stent (small spring), which keeps the artery open.

• The latest-generation stents we use release drugs that in turn prevent further narrowing of the artery.
• In the case of a highly calcified artery, we have specific equipment (Rotablator) available on the structure to abrade the calcareous plaque using a milling cutter, the front surface of which is covered with diamond micro-particles rotating at very high speed (180,000 rpm)".

The facility's interventional cardiology team consists of a team of dedicated nurses, radio manipulators and Doctors OLIVE, OUCHIHA and DEFFARGES.

This team is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It works in close collaboration with the cardiology intensive care unit and the other specialities within the structure (endocrinologists, nephrologists, neurologists, pneumologists, resuscitators, etc.) to provide comprehensive patient care.