Principal missions and goals

Provide cardiac and cardiac valve testing and diagnostic services for both outpatients and inpatients who are 15 years old and above.                                       

            • Provide standard services with an emphasis on patient-centered care.                                              

            • Provide modern and standardized medical equipment.                                                                                   

            • Set up teams of specialized physicians, nurses, and staff.

            • Provide accurate and timely diagnosis.                                                                                               

            • Patient safety from complications.                                                                                                  

            • Service users’ satisfaction.                                                                                                   

            • Data users can easily access the Hospital’s medical data without the risk of disclosing patient confidential data.                                                                             

            • Conduct patient assessment, provide preliminary treatment and refer patients to the right and timely treatment.                                             

            • To become a prototype facility for cardiac care services, instruction, and research at the national and international levels.

Scope of services

1. Provide the following cardiovascular testing and diagnostic services by employing the latest medical equipment for accurate and timely patient referral:                                                         

            1.1 Basic to advanced echocardiography which include:

Three-dimensional echo test is performed for more precise disease assessment and accurate treatment planning.                

­Speckle tracking echocardiography is conducted for detailed assessment of patient’s cardiovascular functioning.

                        1.1.1 Agitated saline transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is employed in patients with indicators of cardiovascular disease.

                        1.1.2 Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is performed under conscious sedation anesthesia in accordance with the Royal College of Anesthesiologists of Thailand’s guidelines and with agitated saline injection in patients with indicators of cardiovascular disease.

                        1.1.3 Stress echocardiography test       

                                    1.1.3.1 Treadmill stress echocardiography                                                              

                                    1.1.3.2 Dobutamine – Atropine stress echocardiography                                         

                                    1.1.3.3 Supine ergometry stress echocardiography                                                 

            1.2 Exercise stress test (EST)

            1.3 Myocardial perfusion (MIBI) test is performed in conjunction with nuclear medicine technology.                      

            1.4 Electrocardiogram (ECG) test                                                                                 

                        1.4.1 12-lead ECG                                                                                     

                        1.4.2. 16-lead ECG                                                                                     

                        1.4.3. Flecainide-challenge ECG is performed in patients with suspected Brugada syndrome.                

            1.5 24-hour, 48-hour, and 72-hour Holter monitoring.

            1.6 Tilt table test (TTT) is employed to identify the cause of fainting spells.                      

            1.7 Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM)  

            1.8 Ankle brachial index (ABI) test

            1.9 6-minute walk test (6MWT)

            1.10 Cardioversion test

            1.12 Point-of-care testing                    

2. Cardiac MRI scan

Cardiac MRI – CMR is a set of tests to assess blood flow to the heart muscle and cardiac functioning. It relies on the use of magnetic and radio waves to generate signals for computer processing. There is no risk of patient’s exposure to radiation. The test can diagnose various heart conditions such as aorta narrowing or heart lesion, cardiomyopathy, valve heart disease, congenital heart disease, and myocardial infarction. It can also detect aorta disease and peripheral artery disease in other organs. The following cardiac MRI scan services are available:

• Stress Cardiac MRI is employed to assess ischemic heart conditions with the use of adenosine/dobutamine.
• Perfusion study is performed to detect cardio muscle and pericardium abnormalities.
• Viability Study is performed to determine whether a patient’s cardio muscle disease is caused by myocardial ischemia or not.
• Congenital heart Study is a test performed to detect congenital heart disease in both children and adults
• Ventricular function test (Noncontrast study) is performed to assess a patient’s heart efficiency. Observation rooms

            2.1 For patients under conscious sedation.                                                                                       

            2.2 For patients with cardiac symptoms and/or unstable vital signs.                                                           

3. Provide one-stop services for heart disease patients requiring close monitoring and other diagnostic procedures, such as patients with a valve heart disease with no indicators for the need of any invasive procedures or heart surgery Patients are assessed and subjected to echocardiogram tests at standard intervals to ensure appropriate patient referral. These tests are performed by specialists under the supervision of teaching physicians. Patients receive medical care from a team of nurses and staff specialized in cardiac patient care and monitoring to ensure safety and prevention of complications with the use of advanced/safe medical equipment and careful treatment plans devised by a multidisciplinary team.                                                

4. Use medical information technology systems to systematically connect to the hospital information system (HIS) for accurate and expedient operations, services, instruction, and research works.           

            4.1 The Cardiovascular Information System (CVIS) is used for patient registration and storing of all examination results from the Adult Noninvasive Examination Room.                                                              

            4.2 The Xcelera system is a cardiovascular PACs system for the storing of picture, echocardiography and Cardiac Cath diagnostic and interventions data.

            4.3 The Cardiovascular Enterprise Viewer (CEV) system is used by physicians to connect with the Hospital information system (HIS) for easy access to test results and moving images on the Xcelera system from different locations on the Hospital’s grounds.   

            4.4 The ISCV 2.3 system (an upgraded version of Xcelera 4.1 and CEV 2.x) is a cardiovascular PACs system for the storing of echocardiography and Cardiac Cath Diagnostic and Interventions images and data. Linkage to HIS allows all physicians to conveniently access test results and moving images on the Xcelera system from different locations on the Hospital’s grounds.                                                                               

5. Instruction. The Center is a valuable source of instruction and study visit for both domestic and international personnel.                                                  

            5.1 Live 3D Echo Center provides specialized learning opportunity for medical fellows.           

            5.2 Echo simulator (HeartWork®)