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Cardiac Catheterization Lab

For people experiencing a heart attack or possible symptoms of heart disease, the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Glens Falls Hospital offers a potentially life-saving, non-surgical emergency balloon angioplasty as well as diagnostic procedures.

In 1996, the hospital invested nearly $2 million to construct the lab. Since then, trained cardiologists have successfully performed more than 10,000 diagnostic procedures. In 2003, Glens Falls Hospital became one of the few hospitals in the state to offer emergency balloon angioplasty without having an on-site, open-heart surgery facility. Since May 2003, cardiologists have performed more than 200 emergency balloon angioplasty procedures. In September 2006, the hospital became one of only five hospitals in the state to receive state Department of Health approval to offer elective balloon angioplasty without having an on-site, open-heart surgery facility.

In the Cardiac Cath Lab, dye is injected through the catheter into the blood vessels, allowing blockages or abnormalities to be easily detected by x-ray. A flexible tube called a catheter is inserted through a small incision in the patient’s groin area into a blood vessel and guided toward the patient’s heart. For patients who come to Glens Falls Hospital suffering from a type of heart attack known as acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), doctors feed a balloon through the coronary artery until it reaches the blockage. The balloon is inflated to open the blockage, a stent, a small, metal tube, is inserted to prop the artery open and blood flow is restored. 

For those Glens Falls Hospital patients undergoing a diagnostic procedure, they are now able to learn within hours of undergoing cardiac catheterization whether or not they will require surgery or coronary angioplasty, thanks to an innovative partnership with Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, NY.

The installation of new telemedicine technology between the two hospitals in early 1999, allows cardiologists in Glens Falls to send an entire cardiac catheterization analysis across a dedicated computer line to Ellis in just 23 minutes. Prior to this, cardiac catheterization images were recorded on videotape at Glens Falls Hospital and delivered to Ellis via courier or overnight mail. The new Telemedicine line eliminates the need for a process that could take a full day depending upon driving time, weather, road conditions, and courier availability.