A subspecialty of cardiology, interventional cardiology refers specifically to catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. Many conditions that were untreatable or required open-heart surgery in the past are now corrected using tools and medicine delivered to the treated area using catheters which are introduced percutaneously into the body through a peripheral vessel like the femoral artery The physician performing the procedure uses fluoroscopic imaging, best described as real-time X-rays, to help guide the catheter into the area to be treated.
Interventional cardiologists in the UAB Heart and Vascular Center treat some 4,000 patients each year for a wide range of conditions. The center features 13 state-of-the-art procedural suites, 4 of which are dedicated to adult diagnostic and interventional cardiology.