Interventional cardiac procedures are minimally invasive techniques carried out in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) to diagnose or treat heart and vascular problems without the need for open surgery. They use catheters (thin flexible tubes) guided through blood vessels under X-ray imaging (fluoroscopy). The range of interventional procedures in adult cardiac care includes: coronary … Read more
Inotropes are drugs that alter the strength (force) of the heart’s contractions. Positive inotropes increase contractility, boosting cardiac output when the heart is failing to pump effectively. Negative inotropes reduce contractility and are used therapeutically in conditions where a less forceful contraction is beneficial, most notably beta-blockers and some calcium channel blockers used in heart … Read more
An induced coma (also called therapeutic sedation or, in the post-cardiac arrest context, targeted temperature management with sedation) is a medically controlled state of unconsciousness. Sedative and anaesthetic medications are given intravenously to keep the patient deeply asleep, allowing the body to recover from the effects of cardiac arrest and enabling the critical care team … Read more