Over the last few months Spire Cardiff Hospital has had several exciting developments in our radiology department which has dramatically improved the service we can provide for our cardiac patients.
Assessing the health
of your heart
Our CT scanning suite houses our new static 64 slice CT scanner. This scanner has a full cardiac capability and can provide gated images of the heart, coronary artery calcium scores and full diagnostic CT coronary angiography. This facility is particularly useful for patients who have a low to intermediate pre-test probability of coronary artery disease, but who still clinically require coronary artery imaging.
More recently our MR scanner in radiology has been upgraded so that in addition to standard gated anatomical imaging of the heart, we can now provide delayed enhancement imaging. This is particularly useful in defining myocardial scaring of the heart in the setting of ischaemic heart disease, but also has a role in detecting myocardial inflammation in acute myocarditis and chronic inflammatory conditions such as sarcoid.
Cardiac imaging is used for diagnosing and evaluating a number of diseases and conditions including:
- Heart failure
- Heart valve problems
- Congenital heart defects
- Pericardial disease (a disease that affects the tissues around the heart)
- Cardiac tumours
Cardiac MRI – Consultant Radiologist Dr A Wood
Spire Cardiff Hospital is the only private provider in Wales offering this diagnostic test. Magnetic fields are used to create images, producing both still and moving pictures of your heart and major blood vessels. It is used to get images of the beating heart and to look at the structure and function of the heart.
Cardiac CT – Consultant Radiologist Dr A Wood
A simple test that uses an x-ray machine to produce detailed pictures of the heart. The machine will take a picture of each part of your heart. A computer will put the pictures together to make a three-dimensional (3D) picture of the whole heart.
Bubble studies –Consultant Cardiologist’s Dr Masani and Dr Wheeler
The test uses an ultrasound machine and conductive gel to help the ultrasound machine generate a clearer picture of your heart. An injection of saline is administered and as the saline moves through the heart, the ultrasound technician follows it. The saline makes certain heart functions more visible, highlighting problems in the left ventricle, the major pumping area of the heart, along with issues with the valves.
Transesophageal echocardiogram – Consultant Cardiologist’s Dr N Masani and Dr R Wheeler
A transesophageal echocardiogram allows your consultant to undertake a graphic outline of the heart's movement, valves and chambers. During a transesophageal echocardiogram an endoscopic probe is placed in the oesophagus via an endoscopic procedure, this provides pictures of the heart's valves and chambers and helps the consultant evaluate the pumping action of the heart.
Stress echocardiogram – Consultant Cardiologist’s Dr N Masani and Dr R Wheeler
An echocardiogram (often called "echo") is a graphic outline of the heart's movement, valves and chambers, using high-frequency sound waves that come from a hand held wand placed on your chest. Echo is often combined with doppler ultrasound and colour doppler to evaluate blood flow across the heart’s valves. The sound waves are used to produce images of the heart at rest and at the peak of exercise.
Cardiac CT & MRI referrals, referrals to Dr A Wood, Consultant Radiologist Radiology Department or by fax on 029 2054 2527.
Non invasive cardiac investigations are available as out-patient procedures and appointments are available on a weekly basis. To arrange one of our cardiac investigations such as, bubble studies, stress echocardiogram transesophageal echocardiogram call our Cardiac Technician on 029 2054 2536.