Complete Cardiac Care, Conveniently Located
Through Corona Regional Medical Center’s affiliation with UC Irvine Health, diagnostic and preventive cardiac services are now available at the community hospital. Since July, the UC Irvine Cardiology Clinic at Corona Regional has been offering patients a variety of tests designed to detect cardiac issues.
Ihab Alomari, MD
Assistant Professor,
Division of Cardiology,
Department of Medicine,
UC Irvine School of Medicine
Ihab Alomari, MD, is a board-certified interventional cardiologist and says the clinic offers diagnostic and preventive care. “We focus on the prevention and management of coronary artery disease and offer smoking cessation, blood pressure and cholesterol management, education on healthy lifestyle and exercise,” says Dr. Alomari.
Some of the diagnostic tests include stress testing (echo, treadmill and nuclear testing) and cardiac catheterization. A calcium coronary score identifies how much calcium is in the arteries. “If the results show a higher level of calcium, then a stress test will be performed if indicated,” says Dr. Alomari. “If the test is positive, we may need to do a cardiac catheterization to prevent a more serious problem,” he says.
Dr. Alomari has seen increased numbers of patients coming to the clinic since it opened. “It’s a great location because it’s right in the hospital. We see a lot of patients with coronary artery disease; high blood pressure; arrhythmias, such as AFib and A-flutter; and valvular heart disease,” says Dr. Alomari. “The good thing is we can manage these with guideline-directed therapy, preventive measures or minimally invasive procedures, and get people back on the path to good health.”
What is Interventional Cardiology?
Interventional cardiology is the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease without surgery. It is minimally invasive and uses catheters inserted into the femoral (groin) or radial (wrist) artery under X-ray guidance that are moved to the problem spot in the heart or surrounding arteries. An example is primary angioplasty, which is a common procedure that treats blocked arteries and inserts stents or balloons to support blood flow. Among the advantages of catheterization procedures using a radial approach are less pain, shorter hospital stays and faster recovery.