Whether it's a serious emergency, or a scheduled procedure, the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at North Kansas City Hospital is equipped to perform a wide variety of minimally invasive procedures to diagnose disease. The highly specialized equipment, devices and personnel in the Cath Lab assure that you'll receive timely, appropriate treatment for your cardiac problem.

Quick treatment is vital to reducing damage to your heart and even saving your life when you are having a heart attack. From the time patients arrive at our accredited Chest Pain Center in our Emergency Department with heart attack symptoms, we are committed to quickly diagnosing their symptoms. In an average of 86 minutes, we perform an angioplasty on heart attack patients to reopen blood flow in their narrowed arteries. Called door-to-balloon time, this process is recommended by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association to take place in less than 90 minutes upon arrival to a hospital.

Cath Lab Services
  • Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization
  • Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)
  • Coronary Artery Stenting
  • Diagnostic Peripheral Catheterization
  • Percutaneous Peripheral Angioplasty and Intervention
  • Permanent Pacemaker
  • Internal Automatic Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD)
  • Bi-Ventricular Pacemaker/Defibrillator
  • Electrophysiology Studies
  • Radiofrequency Ablations
  • Atrial Septal/Patent Foramen Ovale Closures
  • Intravascular Coronary Doppler Velocity
  • Intracoronary Vascular Ultrasound (IVUS)
  • Rotoblator
  • Cardioversion
  • Directional Coronary Atherectomy (DCA)

For many patients, treatment of a heart attack begins in the Emergency Department, where our team of physicians and nurses use their clinical expertise to rapidly assess the problem and determine the best treatment protocols. If catheterization procedures are required, our Cath Lab staff delivers the most appropriate treatment, using the latest equipment, in this high-tech facility.

The North Kansas City Hospital Cath Lab team of skilled and experienced staff and doctors is consistently one of the top three hospitals in the entire Kansas City area for number of cardiac procedures performed. We are the only hospital in the Northland to offer onsite full-service and emergency cardiac care. Our team's skill and speed can prevent or significantly reduce heart damage, while minimizing risk and stress for the patient. The group is equally proficient in performing a host of non-emergency procedures to diagnose or restore heart function.


What Is a Catheterization?
When a patient undergoes a catheterization procedure, X-ray contrast is injected into the arteries of the heart to identify, locate and assess the severity of the coronary artery disease. Contrast also is injected to evaluate cardiac muscle function. In a separate procedure, lifesaving treatment can be provided during a heart attack by injecting a medication.

Other procedures performed in the Cath Lab may save a patient from undergoing invasive surgery. For instance, during a balloon angioplasty, a tiny balloon is inserted into the arteries to open clogged areas with possible placement of a coronary stent in the blocked area.