UnityPoint Clinic Cardiology - Dubuque

If a procedure is scheduled as an outpatient visit, rather than an emergency, patients are able to prepare and recover from their procedure in Finley's Cardiac Outpatient Center. The center has four private rooms and one shared recovery room. The care team in the Cardiac Outpatient Center prepare you for your procedure, discuss the procedure and answer any questions you may have. Post procedure, patients come back to the room for recovery, education and eventually are discharged right from the center.

Arterial blockage is diagnosed during cardiac catheterization. In the cath lab, a catheter is inserted into an artery in your wrist or groin and then threaded through the artery to the heart. Contrast material (similar to a dye) is injected into the coronary arteries to determine whether or not there is a blockage. Cardiologists can use this information to direct treatment plans and options. Once diagnosed, the doctor can remove blockages from the heart or open blood clots in veins located throughout the body.

However, a cath lab is used for more than treating heart attacks. Services may include:

• Checking blood flow in coronary arteries, as well as the pumping action of the heart, and determine how well the heart valves work.
• Discovering diseases in coronary arteries or defects in the heart.
• Opening narrowed coronary arteries.

Finley's cath lab is also used for the treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), a narrowing or blockage of arteries in the legs and arms. In patients with PAD, treatment in the cath lab significantly improves wound healing and prevention of amputation.

Finley's Heart and Vascular Center contains a state-of-the-art cardiac diagnostic unit to diagnose numerous heart conditions. Understanding the heart is the first step in treating the underlying condition. Patients may visit Finley's diagnostic unit for a stress test (or exercise EKG), electrocardiogram, ECHO, cardiac CT scan, or cardiac nuclear medicine test.

Patients who have a pacemaker are able to complete convenient routine follow up care with Finley's Pacemaker Clinic, also located in the cardiac diagnostic area. Pacemaker Clinic is staffed with a nurse specialist who has extensive training on the use of multiple types of devices. Follow up may be in the form of a scheduled in person visit or a phone interview done remotely.

Finley's Heart Scan, also known as calcium scoring, is also offered in the Heart and Vascular Center.