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Coronary Artery Disease

Education, Intervention & Prevention

What Is Coronary Artery Disease?

Almost 15 million people in the U.S. are affected by coronary artery disease, and it remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite decades of therapeutic advances.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs when plaque causes narrowing or blockage within the coronary arteries, limiting blood flow to the heart. Typical symptoms include chest pain (angina), shortness of breath and fatigue. Coronary artery disease presents in many forms, from sudden heart attacks to chronic conditions resulting in congestive heart failure.

Treating Coronary Artery Disease

Winchester Medical Center has been a designated Chest Pain Center since 2006, as recognized by the American College of Cardiology Accreditation Services. Three other Valley Health hospitals have earned Chest Pain Center designation: Warren Memorial Hospital in 2012, Shenandoah Memorial Hospital in 2020 and Page Memorial Hospital in 2021. On average, our patients experiencing a heart attack are diagnosed and treated significantly faster than the national average. The sooner a heart attack is treated, the less damage is sustained to the heart. We work closely with local emergency medical services providers in order to provide the best care. In fact, when an EMS unit arrives on the scene of a patient with a heart attack, there is instant communication with the Valley Health heart team. This allows the team to make preparations at the hospital to receive the patient and provide the most rapid treatment.

Interventional cardiologists at Valley Health offer minimally-invasive percutaneous procedures (performed through a needle puncture through the skin) that use a catheter to direct a balloon or a stent to clear coronary blockages and restore blood flow. We operate cardiac catheterization laboratories at Winchester Medical Center that include rooms dedicated to coronary intervention, cardiac devices, electrophysiology procedures and complex hybrid procedures. We also operate a catheterization lab at Warren Memorial Hospital offering diagnostic procedures and non-surgical cardiac and vascular interventions.

At Winchester Medical Center, specially trained cardiologists on our team offer procedures to open completely blocked, or occluded, coronary arteries in patients with long-standing angina without open-heart surgery. We have a tradition of active participation in cardiovascular research that has enabled us to apply innovative technology.

For patients with chronic stable angina who have exhausted standard treatment options without relief, we offer enhanced external counter-pulsation (EECP®) therapy. This non-invasive outpatient treatment compresses the blood vessels in the lower limbs to increase blood flow to the heart.

Resources

Valley Health offers resources to teach you about heart disease and how to live a healthier lifestyle. We are committed to teaching people to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a heart attack, reducing the time it takes to receive treatment, and increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.

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