Hi. I'm Dr. Michael Ragosta, and I'm director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at the University of Virginia Hospital. A STEMI heart attack is a specific type of heart attack in which the coronary artery is completely blocked by typically a clot, and it causes a fairly characteristic change on an electrocardiogram. And while that artery is closed, damage to the heart muscle is occurring. The faster you open the artery, the less the damage there is. 

The way we treat a heart attack is by having a system to rapidly get the patient to the cardiac catheterization laboratory so we can rapidly open the artery, typically using balloons and stents. The reason someone should come to UVA, rather than another hospital, is that we have a finely-tuned system of care for patients with STEMI heart attacks. A team of professionals are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We're never closed for business. 

In addition, we have advanced treatment options for patients with heart disease that are not available at other centers. These include heart surgery, advanced heart failure treatments. We're able to offer, really, all services for all kinds of heart attacks, no matter the complexity or difficulty. 

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