OUR SERVICES

Southern California Heart Centers provides state-of-the-art services in cardiac clinic care and diagnostic testing. Our two board-certified cardiologists lead a team of well-trained staff dedicated to ensuring that patients receive the highest quality care. With an ICAEL (Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories) accredited echocardiography and stress echocardiography labs, we offer a range of cardiac diagnostic services including:

  • Cardiac consultation

  • Electrocardiogram

  • Electronic Holter monitoring

  • Pacemaker interrogation

  • Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA)

  • Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Cardiac MRI)

  • Echocardiogram

  • Exercise Stress Test

  • Stress Echocardiogram

From its inception, Southern California Heart Centers has strived to be a leader in patient care Nuclear Cardiology and in the use of the most state-of-the-art technology. We switched to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) in 2005, five years before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established the federal standard for EMR. We were also a pioneer in obtaining ICAEL accreditation in Echocardiography and Stress Echocardiography in 2002.

 

EKG

An electrocardiogram — abbreviated as EKG or ECG — is a test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat. With each beat, an electrical impulse (or “wave”) travels through the heart. This wave causes the muscle to squeeze and pump blood from the heart. A normal heartbeat on ECG will show the timing of the top and lower chambers.

 

ECHOCARDIOGRAM

An echocardiogram (echo) is a test that uses high frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to create pictures of your heart’s chambers, valves, walls and the blood vessels (aorta, arteries, veins) attached to your heart. A probe called a transducer is passed over your chest. The probe produces sound waves that bounce off your heart and “echo” back to the probe. These waves are changed into pictures viewed on a video monitor.

 

STRESS ECHOCARDIOGRAM

This is a 3 part test with a pre-treadmill echocardiogram followed by the treadmill stress test and finished with a post-stress echocardiogram. A stress test, sometimes called a treadmill test or exercise test, helps a doctor find out how well your heart handles work. As your body works harder during the test, it requires more oxygen, so the heart must pump more blood. The test can show if the blood supply is reduced in the arteries that supply the heart. It also helps doctors know the kind and level of exercise appropriate for a patient. Speed and incline is increased at set intervals.

 

HOLTER / EVENT HOLTER

A Holter monitor is a battery-operated portable device that measures and records your heart’s activity (ECG) continuously for 24 to 48 hours or longer depending on the type of monitoring used. An Event Holter monitor is recording for 30 continuous days. The device is small and can be carried in the palm of your hand. It has wires with small electrodes that attach to your skin. The Holter monitor and other devices that record your ECG as you go about your daily activities are called ambulatory electrocardiograms.

 

Nuclear Cardiology

A nuclear stress test uses myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), a non-invasive imaging test that shows how well blood flows through (perfuses) your heart muscle. It can show areas of the heart muscle that aren’t getting enough blood flow. This test is often called a nuclear stress test. It can also show how well the heart muscle is pumping.

 

CCTA

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) uses an injection of iodine-containing contrast material and CT scanning to examine the arteries that supply blood to the heart and determine whether they have been narrowed. It is a noninvasive test that uses X-rays to make pictures of your heart. They can take images of the beating heart, and show calcium and blockages in your heart arteries.

 

CARDIAC MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive test that uses a magnetic field and radiofrequency waves to create detailed pictures of organs and structures inside your body. It can be used to examine your heart and blood vessels, and to identify areas of the brain affected by stroke. Some cardiac MRI patients will receive an injection of a contrast medium or dye through a vein before the scan to improve the ability of the MRI machine to capture more detailed images of tissues. Cardiac MRI also is used to predict how the heart will respond to treatments for coronary artery disease, such as coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty.

 

CARDIAC CATHERTERIZATION

Cardiac catheterization (cardiac cath or heart cath) is a procedure to examine how well your heart is working. The procedure examines the inside of your heart’s blood vessels using special X-rays called angiograms. Dye visible by X-ray is injected into blood vessels using a thin hollow tube called a catheter that is inserted into a large blood vessel that leads to your heart.

 

PTCA AND STENT PLACEMENT

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) also called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a minimally invasive procedure to open blocked or stenosed coronary arteries. A Coronary Stent is a tiny wire mesh tube used to prop open an artery during angioplasty. The stent stays in the artery permanently. The stent will also improve blood flow to the heart muscle and will relieve chest pain (angina).

 

PACEMAKER IMPLANTATION

A small battery-operated device that helps the heart beat in a regular rhythm using electrical impulses. There are two parts: a generator and wires (leads).Your doctor may recommend a pacemaker to make your heart beat more regularly if: your heartbeat is too slow and often irregular. Or if your heartbeat is sometimes normal and sometimes too fast or too slow.

 

TAVR

The surgery may be called a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). During this minimally invasive procedure a new valve is inserted without removing the old, damaged valve. The new valve is placed inside the diseased valve. Usually valve replacement requires an open-heart procedure with a “sternotomy”, in which the chest is surgically separated (opened) for the procedure. The TAVR or TAVI procedures can be done through very small openings that leave all the chest bones in place.

 
 

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Southern California Heart Centers

506 West Valley Blvd., Suite 100,
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Tel: (626) 308-3800 Fax: (626) 308-1899