CaRi-heart technology
Revolutionary new technology to assess the risk of a serious heart condition or heart attack – many years before anything happens.
CORONARY ARTERY CARE
Put your heart health in safe hands
- No.1 in the UK for private cardiac care
- The UK's leading provider of private heart valve replacement and repair surgery
- 225 heart bypasses and over 500 PCIs for blocked arteries per year
- Coronary artery tests and diagnostics offered
- 99% of our cardiac patients would recommend us to friends and family
Coronary artery care at HCA UK
Why choose us?
As the UK’s No.1 for private cardiac care, we look after more patients than any other UK private healthcare provider. That means more heart bypass procedures (CABG) and more percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) for blocked arteries.
We also deliver better outcomes, achieving a 99% success rate across all cardiac surgery, and an impressive 99.6% for CABG. With specialisms in advanced imaging and the latest minimally invasive and robotic surgery techniques, it’s easy to see why 99% of our patients would recommend us to family and friends.
We also deliver better outcomes, achieving a 99% success rate across all cardiac surgery, and an impressive 99.6% for CABG. With specialisms in advanced imaging and the latest minimally invasive and robotic surgery techniques, it’s easy to see why 99% of our patients would recommend us to family and friends.
Your coronary arteries supply your heart with the oxygen-rich blood it needs.
You have two coronary arteries, the left and the right. The right supplies the under-surface of the heart. The left is much bigger and after a short distance it divides into two major systems supplying the front and lateral walls of your heart.
Patients with coronary artery disease are often classified as having a single, double or triple vessel disease, depending on how many systems are affected.
A fatty plaque material, coronary artery atheroma, can build up in your artery walls. This can lead to atherosclerosis, the narrowing of your arteries. If they become so narrowed that the blood can’t get through, your heart can’t get the oxygen it needs. This can lead to angina, which you might feel as pain in your chest.
Often the heart gets enough blood at rest but, with increasing exertion not enough gets through and pain comes on, mimicking a stitch. This is a protective act by your body, forcing you to stop which allows your heart to catch up.
If part of the plaque breaks off the wall of your artery, it can cause a blood clot to form, which can completely block the blood supply to your heart, causing a heart attack.
It’s vital to get any problems with your coronary arteries checked by a specialist.
You have two coronary arteries, the left and the right. The right supplies the under-surface of the heart. The left is much bigger and after a short distance it divides into two major systems supplying the front and lateral walls of your heart.
Patients with coronary artery disease are often classified as having a single, double or triple vessel disease, depending on how many systems are affected.
A fatty plaque material, coronary artery atheroma, can build up in your artery walls. This can lead to atherosclerosis, the narrowing of your arteries. If they become so narrowed that the blood can’t get through, your heart can’t get the oxygen it needs. This can lead to angina, which you might feel as pain in your chest.
Often the heart gets enough blood at rest but, with increasing exertion not enough gets through and pain comes on, mimicking a stitch. This is a protective act by your body, forcing you to stop which allows your heart to catch up.
If part of the plaque breaks off the wall of your artery, it can cause a blood clot to form, which can completely block the blood supply to your heart, causing a heart attack.
It’s vital to get any problems with your coronary arteries checked by a specialist.
You may develop coronary artery problems for a whole range of reasons. We’re here to help you get back to good health, with fast access to a range of tests that can diagnose any anomalies and quickly get you onto the most appropriate treatment pathway.
Broadly there are two different types of tests you might undergo, called functional and anatomical tests. Functional tests assess how well your heart is coping and how it responds to stress, while the anatomical tests look specifically at any narrowing in your arteries.
The commonest type of functional test is an echocardiogram in which gel is placed on your chest and a high frequency sound probe then looks at it beating. It can see previous heart attacks and assess how strong your heart is. Further functional tests stress the heart and see how well it copes with an increasing load, mimicking exercise. The most common stress tests are stress echo and stress MRI. The stress used can either be physical exercise (usually riding a static bike) or drugs that are injected in, to safely stress your heart.
Your consultant may recommend going straight to an anatomical test which will either be a special CT scan called a CT coronary angiogram or a conventional coronary angiogram which uses contrast dye to highlight any narrowed areas of your arteries.
The CT angiogram is less invasive, and you don’t need to be admitted to hospital to have it. It’s excellent at checking for narrowed areas of coronary artery and can indicate if there is any disease present. However, the pictures it delivers are often not clear enough to decide how tight any narrowing is with 100% certainty.
A coronary angiogram requires you to be admitted as a day-case to hospital. You’ll go to the cardiac X-ray suite (often called a ‘cath lab’) and detailed X-rays will be taken of your coronary arteries using a small needle (a catheter) placed in your wrist. These will help your consultant to plan your treatment.
Broadly there are two different types of tests you might undergo, called functional and anatomical tests. Functional tests assess how well your heart is coping and how it responds to stress, while the anatomical tests look specifically at any narrowing in your arteries.
The commonest type of functional test is an echocardiogram in which gel is placed on your chest and a high frequency sound probe then looks at it beating. It can see previous heart attacks and assess how strong your heart is. Further functional tests stress the heart and see how well it copes with an increasing load, mimicking exercise. The most common stress tests are stress echo and stress MRI. The stress used can either be physical exercise (usually riding a static bike) or drugs that are injected in, to safely stress your heart.
Your consultant may recommend going straight to an anatomical test which will either be a special CT scan called a CT coronary angiogram or a conventional coronary angiogram which uses contrast dye to highlight any narrowed areas of your arteries.
The CT angiogram is less invasive, and you don’t need to be admitted to hospital to have it. It’s excellent at checking for narrowed areas of coronary artery and can indicate if there is any disease present. However, the pictures it delivers are often not clear enough to decide how tight any narrowing is with 100% certainty.
A coronary angiogram requires you to be admitted as a day-case to hospital. You’ll go to the cardiac X-ray suite (often called a ‘cath lab’) and detailed X-rays will be taken of your coronary arteries using a small needle (a catheter) placed in your wrist. These will help your consultant to plan your treatment.
There are many ways to manage and treat coronary artery disease, from taking medicine to having coronary artery bypass surgery. Our consultants can help to diagnose what’s causing your own individual symptoms and recommend the best way forward.
There are three options for treating narrowed arteries generally – either with tablets, stents or bypass surgery.
Once your pattern of disease has been identified and mapped, your consultant will recommend the best treatment option for you. At HCA UK, this sometimes means that your case is discussed in a large forum of cardiologists and surgeons called an MDT (multi-disciplinary team).
The treatment you are then offered will therefore have been recommended by a large group of experts, giving you great confidence that it’s the very best way forward.
We carry out 225 heart bypasses a year and over 500 PCIs for blocked arteries.
There are three options for treating narrowed arteries generally – either with tablets, stents or bypass surgery.
Once your pattern of disease has been identified and mapped, your consultant will recommend the best treatment option for you. At HCA UK, this sometimes means that your case is discussed in a large forum of cardiologists and surgeons called an MDT (multi-disciplinary team).
The treatment you are then offered will therefore have been recommended by a large group of experts, giving you great confidence that it’s the very best way forward.
We carry out 225 heart bypasses a year and over 500 PCIs for blocked arteries.
If you have coronary heart disease, having the right care at the right time can help improve your quality of life. You may be experiencing shortness of breath, fatigue and palpitations as a result of coronary heart disease, symptoms that the right treatment can help to alleviate.
In more serious cases, having an accurate diagnosis and expert treatment can help reduce your risk of major heart complications such as a heart attack. It can often improve your quality of life by improving breathlessness or angina and, in some instances, it may actually prolong your life.
In more serious cases, having an accurate diagnosis and expert treatment can help reduce your risk of major heart complications such as a heart attack. It can often improve your quality of life by improving breathlessness or angina and, in some instances, it may actually prolong your life.
Next-day appointments
See a specialist and get on the path to an expert diagnosis within 24 hours
State-of-the-art diagnostics
With results in as little as 48 hours
Wide-reaching expertise across the UK
Visit any one of 15 dedicated diagnostic centres in London, Manchester and Birmingham
CORONARY ARTERY CARE SERVICES
We’ll expertly identify and rapidly treat any coronary artery problems
Our specialist teams are highly experienced at understanding the cause of your atherosclerosis and effectively treating it. Here are just some of the diagnostic approaches and treatments we may recommend, delivered by the extended HCA UK team that’s proud to be the UK’s number one for private cardiovascular care.
Coronary angiogram
This common diagnostic procedure looks inside your heart's arteries to help your consultant understand the progress of any heart disease and determine whether you may need surgery to expand your arteries.
Optical coherence tomography
Our HCA UK specialists can offer you this test and this test can be used to confirm inherited eye conditions
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS)
Also referred to as myocardial infarction or unstable angina. We treat symptoms of acute coronary syndrome at our world-class hospitals.
Coronary angioplasty
A non-surgical treatment to widen arteries in the heart that have become narrow or blocked by plaque. You may see a coronary angioplasty referred to as “Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)”.
Stent surgery
A stent is a small, expandable metal mesh tube that can be inserted into narrowed arteries to restore blood flow. This is usually done to treat coronary artery disease (CAD) caused by the build-up of fatty plaque.
Heart bypass surgery (CABG)
Heart bypass surgery is a treatment for coronary heart disease. The coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure helps to restore blood flow to the heart where arteries have become blocked, a condition which can result in pain in the chest or more serious cardiovascular complications.
Coronary artery chronic total occlusion (CTO)
If you have a coronary artery chronic total occlusion (CTO), our expert cardiac team can help support your heart health. We're here for you every step of the way, so you can feel confident you're in safe hands.
Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB)
MIDCAB is a surgical procedure conducted on patients who need a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), sometimes offered as an alternative to open heart surgery.
da Vinci® surgical system
Minimally invasive surgical solutions in London, Birmingham and Manchester, to help patients get better, faster.
Locations
Where can I get specialist coronary artery care?
You can access HCA UK’s specialist cardiac services in our renowned hospitals across London, in our flagship Birmingham hospital, The Harborne and in The Wilmslow Hospital, Cheshire. Across hospitals and treatment centres, you’ll have access to some of the country’s most respected experts who can help, from initial consultation through to treatment and next steps.
The Harley Street Clinic
35 Weymouth Street W1G 8BJ London
London Bridge Hospital
27 Tooley Street SE1 2PR London
The Wellington Hospital
8A Wellington Place St John's Wood NW8 9LE London
Accessing private health care
Self-pay
You don’t need health insurance to be seen quickly. If you’re looking for a diagnosis or treatment and don’t want to wait, all our private healthcare services – from private GP appointments through to surgery and aftercare – can be paid for as and when you need them.
And to give you peace of mind from the start, we’ll offer you a clear and transparent quote outlining exactly what’s included in your self-pay package.
Coronary artery care FAQs
Coronary artery disease is a common condition in which plaque builds up in your coronary arteries. These are the major vessels that supply your heart with blood. The plaque build-up causes them to become narrowed or blocked, which restricts blood flow to the heart muscle.
Coronary artery disease can develop for a whole range of reasons including:
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure, also called hypertension
- Smoking
- Diabetes or insulin resistance
- A lack of regular exercise
- An unhealthy diet
- High stress levels
- Obesity
- Your age and genetics
At HCA UK, we’re here to help you get back to good health, with fast access to a range of cardiac diagnostic tests and scans. These can help us to accurately diagnose any cardiac problems and get you any specialist treatment that you may need.
If you have severe coronary artery calcification, you’ll need treatment to restore normal blood flow to your heart. This will involve reducing or removing plaque deposits in your coronary arteries to restore blood flow, using a range of specialised techniques.
You can find out more about treatment for severe coronary artery calcification here.
An angioplasty involves threading a catheter into a blockage in the coronary artery, before inflating a balloon to widen it to its usual width. A mesh stent, attached to the balloon, acts as a scaffold to hold the artery open, restoring blood flow.
If you have coronary heart disease, including CTO, you may not have any symptoms. However the most common symptom is chest pain or angina, which is a heaviness, tightness or dull pain in the chest, usually related to exercise.
The feeling can radiate through your left arm, back or neck. Other symptoms may include palpitations, shortness of breath, feeling very tired and nausea.
The feeling can radiate through your left arm, back or neck. Other symptoms may include palpitations, shortness of breath, feeling very tired and nausea.
A chronic total occlusion (CTO) of a coronary artery is an artery that has been totally blocked for more than three months.
Traditionally this would be treated with open heart CABG surgery, but some of our interventional cardiologists specialise in a minimally invasive procedure for CTO.
Working as a team, they use catheters, wires, balloons and stents to unblock these arteries – all through an incision the diameter of a pencil. Because it’s a minimally invasive procedure, recovery times tend to be much faster.
Traditionally this would be treated with open heart CABG surgery, but some of our interventional cardiologists specialise in a minimally invasive procedure for CTO.
Working as a team, they use catheters, wires, balloons and stents to unblock these arteries – all through an incision the diameter of a pencil. Because it’s a minimally invasive procedure, recovery times tend to be much faster.
Instead of opening the chest by cutting through the breastbone, minimal access and robotic surgery, including Da Vinci robot surgery, involves a few small incisions.
These methods achieve the same results as open-heart surgery but involve fewer risks and offer a faster recovery. The robot’s four arms have a greater range of motion than human wrists and the processors, eliminating any natural hand tremors too.
These methods achieve the same results as open-heart surgery but involve fewer risks and offer a faster recovery. The robot’s four arms have a greater range of motion than human wrists and the processors, eliminating any natural hand tremors too.
Using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology, normally used for eye tests and treatments, our interventional cardiologists can access your coronary arteries and view built-up plaque.
Infrared light and echo signals communicate the place and intensity of any plaque on the coronary walls. This gives cardiologists a detailed understanding of whether the plaque is likely to rupture and cause a heart attack.
Infrared light and echo signals communicate the place and intensity of any plaque on the coronary walls. This gives cardiologists a detailed understanding of whether the plaque is likely to rupture and cause a heart attack.
Endoscopic surgery involves making an incision of just 2.5cm, as opposed an incision of up to 11cm (still considered minimally invasive) or the 20cm+ incision needed for a sternotomy. You can compare different surgical approaches here.
Our patients’ stories
How a health kick revealed a serious heart condition
When the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, like millions of others, 56-year-old House Manager James took the opportunity to introduce some simple daily exercise into his busy work schedule. Little did he know that the changes would reveal a hidden heart condition, that would require a triple heart bypass to fix.
"Time is of the essence with my heart, as I have diabetes"
Saleem, 57, keeps an active lifestyle to remain fit and healthy. He plays badminton once a week and goes for a walk in the morning and evening every day. Despite having type 2 diabetes, he continues to have a balanced and energetic life.
“From the day I arrived for my angiogram, to the moment I was discharged, I was treated like royalty... (Everyone) went out of their way to be kind and supportive.”
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