Diagnostic Outpatient Testing

For your convenience, CVA offers the following specialized services along with a highly trained staff of technicians:

• Nuclear Medicine
  • Nuclear Cardiac Stress Test
  • MUGA
• PET Cardiac Stress Test
  While PET is not new, its use to look for coronary blockages is. CVA is the first to offer this test in Birmingham. PET is offered at our office located on 880 Monclair Road in Birmingham.
• CTA
  • Carotid
  • Thoracic
  • Renal
  • Abdominal with runoffs (legs)
• Cardiac CT
  CVA offers calcium scoring. Because the level of calcium can help assist in the detection of coronary artery disease, a cardiac CT scan determines the amoount of any calcium deposits in the coronary artery. This is a helpful diagnostic tool. Most health plans do not cover calcium scoring.
• Non-Invasive Cardiology
  • EKG
  • GXT (Graded Exercise Stress Test)
  • Holter Monitor (24 hour)
  • Event Monitor (30 day)
• Ultrasound
  • Echocarddiogram
  • Stress Echo
  • Carotid Doppler
  • Venous Leg Doppler & Ultrasound
  • Venous Arm Doppler & Ultrasound
  • Arterial Leg Doppler & Ultrasound
  • Arterial Arm Doppler & Ultrasound
  • ABI/Arterial Multi Segmental Pressures
  • Renal Artery Doppler & Ultrasound
  • Abdominal Aorta Doppler & Ultrasound
  • 3D Echo
• ABI Index

Tests Instructions

We have provided prep instructions for each of the following tests offered at CVA. For any questions concerning these instructions or your test, call 205-599-3500.

• Stress Echo
• GXT Stress Test (Graded Exercise Stress Test)
• Nuclear Stress Test
• PET Cardiac Stress Test
• Renal Artery Duplex Ultrasound or Abdominal Aorta Ultrasound

Outpatient Cardiac Lab

Cardiac catheterization is a test that allows your physician to see the circulation to and around your heart, and assess your heart muscle's blood supply. It also allows the physician to study the main pumping chamber of the heart. Advances in technology have allowed this test to be done in a less stressful outpatient setting, rather than in the hospital. This offers several advantages to our patients.

Schedule times in our Outpatient Cardiac Catheterization Lab are maintained because there are no complex emergency procedures being done, as there are in a hospital setting. Our staff also strives for a higher level of personal care and service and can spend the time with patients that this higher level of service requires.

The CVA OPCL provides many advantages. They can have the ease and comfort knowing their cath will be performed closely on schedule. This is due to the fact that our lab is dedicated for outpatient catheterizations only. No emergencies or other procedures interfere with the daily schedule.

Our OPCL is located on the second floor of our office on 880 Montclair Road in Birmingham where there is easy access to our office and parking.

Click here for more information.

Heart Lab

The Heart Lab at CVA assists in the care of monitoring and treating patients' cardiac rhythms.

Non-Invasive Monitoring

• Holter Monitor - This is a small, digital monitor that has 5 wires that are externally attached to the patient's chest and worn for 24 hours. The patient is sent home & asked to record any symptoms they might experience in their diary. After completing 24 hours of recording, the patient may remove the wires, monitor and diary then return all to CVA for digital scanning & final report. The report will contain data of all recorded cardiac rhythms & rates that occurred during testing.
• Event Monitor - This is also a small, digital monitor that has 5 wires externally attached to the patient's chest but is worn for 30 days to record cardiac rhythms. This monitor can be removed by the patient for bathing, with instructions given as to how to reapply electrodes. The patient will be instructed how to activate recording when experiencing symptoms for which monitor was ordered by physician.

Implantable Treatment Devices

• Permanent Pacemaker - This device is used to keep the patient's heart rate from beating too slow.
• Implantable Cardio-defibrillator (ICD) - This device is used to arrest or "shock" a fast, life-threatening rhythm a patient might be experiencing. All ICD's now have pacemaker capabilities in addition to their shock function.
• Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) - This device may be a pacemaker or ICD which utilizes an additional lead placed within the left ventricle to improve contractility & cardiac output. This advanced technology is proving to be quite effective in improving the quality of life in Congestive Heart Failure patients.

All of these devices are surgically implanted into a patient's chest by a CVA physician and are performed within the Catheterization Lab of the hospital. Once the patient has had a device implanted, they will have regularly scheduled follow-up visits in the office along trans-telephonic monitoring during the interim, to insure optimal function of the device.

Women's Cardiovascular Center

Heart disease kills more women than the next fourteen causes of death combined, says Dr. Rao, director of the center."Now that we are learning more about women and heart disease we are also learning its diagnosis is often delayed in women, resulting in poorer outcome. The Women's Heart Program at Rookwood is a combined effort between the cardiologists and the obstetricians /gynecologists to diagnose and treat heart disease at an early age. The program focuses on community and professional education. The ultimate goal is to help women maintain active and healthy lifestyles by reducing the rate of death and disability from heart disease."

Diagnostic Services

• Non-Invasive Cardiology
• EKG
• GXT (Graded Exercise Stress Test)
• Holter Monitor (24 hour)
• 30 Day Event Monitor
• Nuclear Medicine
• Nuclear Cardiac Stress Test
• MUGA
• PET Cardiac Stress test
• Ultrasound
• Echocardiogram
• Stress Echo
• Carotid Doppler
• Venous Leg Doppler & Ultrasound
• Venous Arm Doppler & Ultrasound
• Arterial Leg Doppler & Ultrasound
• Arterial Arm Doppler & Ultrasound
• ABI/Arterial Multi Segmental Pressures
• Renal Artery Doppler & Ultrasound
• Abdominal Aorta Doppler & Ultrasound
• EECP (Enhanced External Counterpulsation Therapy)
• Outpatient Cardiac Catheterization Lab

To learn more, click here for more information or contact our Women's CardioVascular Center at Brookwood at 205-877-8526.

CardioVascular Associates P.C. is one of the largest cardiology practices in the Southeast, providing heart and peripheral vascular care for over 46,000 patients a year. Over the last sixty-four years, CVA has gained extensive experience resulting in the development of a comprehensive vascular care program offering the full spectrum of prevention, noninvasive and invasive diagnostic modalities, and endovascular surgical procedures. This level of experience allows patients access to leading edge technologies and new drugs. Recognized nationally for their expertise, CVA endovascular specialists have trained physicians throughout the country in the techniques of non-surgical vascular interventions.

We comprehensively manage vascular disease with an emphasis on working with primary care physicians, together focusing on the prevention of strokes and heart attacks, events that are more likely to occur in these patients. We deligently attempt to control the risk factors that contribute to these diseases, thereby preventing problems before they occur. The adequate treatment of lipid disorders, anti-platelet therapies, smoking and tobacco cessation, diet and exercise are all part of the treatment protocols. This broad approach serves to improve patients' quality and possibly length of life.

Often, patients need revascularization procedures to improve blood flow to the brain, legs, arms, kidneys or other internal organs. Just as these procedures have been successful in the heart, we use similar techniques to restore blood flow to all other parts of the body. When large blood vessels are significantly enlarged, these aneurysms can usually be repaired non-surgically, requiring less recovery time and, generally, fewer complications. Working closely with our vascular surgery colleagues, open surgical procedures are sometimes recommended.

Some of the most common clinical conditions treated are: arterial blockage of the carotid arteries, arms, legs, kidneys and other internal organs, aneurysms of the aorta and peripheral arteries, varicose veins and other disorders of the venous system. To learn more, visit our website www.cvapc.com.