The UF Health Congenital Heart Center has a dedicated Congenital Interventional Cardiac Catheterization Lab. With Curt Fudge, MD, as its director, the UF pediatric interventional cardiologists perform about 420 diagnostic and interventional catheterizations each year. The use of interventional catheterization means that UF Health’s congenital heart specialists can repair defects in children and adults through blood vessels in the leg, minimizing or eliminating the need for major incisions.
Cardiac catheterization allows doctors to gather essential information about the anatomy of the patient’s heart and vessels. In many cases, congenital defects — such as holes or narrowed valves or vessels — can be repaired during the catheterization. Since catheterization is less invasive than open-heart surgery, patients leave the hospital and are back to their regular activities sooner.
Our interventional catheterization lab serves children and adults with CHD and other acquired pediatric heart disease.
Our services include:
- Diagnostic and interventional catheterization
- Interventional catheterization
- Valvuloplasty
- Device closure: ASD, PDA, VSD, fistulas
- RF perforation and valvuloplasty
- Vessel recanalization
- Hybrid techniques