A permanent pacemaker is usually implanted in a patient when the heart beats too slowly. The medical term for this is “bradycardia”. The pacemaker can send small electrical impulses to the heart to make it beat at a normal pace.

Catheter ablation is a treatment for people who desire a cure for their arrhythmia instead of taking medication. Ablation uses either cold therapy or heat therapy to target the spot in your heart that is causing the arrhythmia.

Coronary stenting is often used instead of surgery to open up narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. It is done in hospital in the catheter laboratory in much the same way as a coronary angiogram.

Coronary Angiography (literally “taking pictures of the blood vessels of the heart”) is an invasive procedure performed in hospital after appropriate evaluation, to identify any narrowings or blockages of the heart arteries.

A defibrillator (also called an “ICD”) is a device that is used to treat patients who are at risk for dangerous rapid heart racing known as ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF).

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) is a 24 hour observation of blood pressure, which gives much more information than “one-off” blood pressure readings at a specialist’s or GP’s rooms. ABPM measures blood pressure at regular intervals during normal activities, including sleep, in much the same way that a Holter Monitor observes the heart rhythm over 24 hours.

The Holter monitor records the electrical activity of every heartbeat on an ECG (Electrocardiogram) during normal daily activities and through the night. This allows us to continuously record the electrical activity of the heart, and compare it to any symptoms you may experience.

An exercise echo, also known as a stress test, involves a baseline ultrasound (or echocardiogram) of the heart with repeat images taken soon after exercise on a treadmill. This compares the heart function at rest and after exercise to look for changes in heart function which may suggest heart problems.

An echo (echocardiogram or cardiac ultrasound) examines structure of the heart non-invasively. It takes 20-30 minutes to perform and provides very useful information.