Cardiac Catheterization Lab at South Shore Hospital
The Cardiac Catheterization Lab at South Shore Hospital is among the busiest in Massachusetts. Our physicians provide complete cardiovascular therapy services, including diagnostic cardiac catheterization and 24/7 coverage for life-saving emergency angioplasty. Elective angioplasty is provided in affiliation with Brigham and Women's Hospital as part of the MASS COMM Trial through the Department of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
At South Shore Hospital, the door-to-balloon time — or the time from when a person experiencing a heart attack arrives in the emergency room until the moment that blood flow
is restored to the blocked coronary artery — is consistently faster than the national average. The in-hospital mortality of those patients is also considerably less than the national average. For all patients who are suspected of having an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), or heart attack, the hospital's Code AMI team meets the patient and their family in the emergency department and coordinates with emergency department staff to assure appropriate, expedited care.
Cardiac catheterization is a diagnostic procedure for evaluating certain problems with the heart and its blood supply. The procedure involves the placement of a long, thin tube called a catheter into the heart to measure pressures, inject dye and take x-ray pictures. It normally takes two to three hours.
Code AMI Team
