Patients
Welcome to the Department of Cardiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague
Department of Cardiology, IKEM is a specialised cardiology centre that provides expert health care for patients with cardiovascular diseases in the Czech Republic. It is an integral part of the IKEM Heart Centre.
Interventional cardiology team is available around the clock for treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction using direct percutaneous coronary intervention (mechanical opening of occluded coronary arteries supported by metallic scaffold – stent). It performs also other catheter-based diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as catheter closures of atrial or ventricular septal defect and percutaneous implants of heart valves.
Arrhythmology specialists perform all types of catheter ablations for cardiac arrhythmias (catheter-based therapeutic procedures that allow cure of various types of heart rhythm disorders), especially ablations for atrial fibrillation of ventricular tachyarrhythmias. It belongs to several top world centres with experience in catheter ablation supported by robotic navigation. Arrhythmia unit is a centre with longstanding tradition and experience in implantations of cardiac pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.
Noninvasive cardiology team disposes of all available modern diagnostic techniques used in cardiovascular diagnostics. It performs around 18000 echocardiographic studies each year.
Heart failure unit provides specialised care to patients with heart failure, including transplant programme. It follows patients after heart transplantation.
Acute cardiology unit replaced former coronary care unit as it takes care of a broad spectrum of acute conditions in cardiology and not only of patients with acute coronary syndromes. More and more patients are treated for acute decompensation of heart failure, life-threatening arrhythmias and other conditions.
Both two clinical wards provide clinical basis for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and for treatment of many cardiovascular diseases.
From scientific point of view, Department of Cardiology, IKEM belongs to the most prestigious Czech research centres in the field of cardiology. It is involved many research projects and multicentre clinical studies that explore modern treatment approaches or technologies. Department of Cardiology, IKEM is ranked among top European cardiology centres.
Department of Cardiology, IKEM serves also as educational centre for both pregraduate and postgraduate students. It organizes many educational meetings including live demonstrations from cath labs every year. Through a co-operation with media, Department of Cardiology, IKEM contributes to popularization of cardiology and cardiovascular diseases.
These web pages are intended to familiarise you with the department and its standards of health care. They should help you to become our patients. However, they are not intended to replace the personal contact with our physicians, nursing staff, technicians and other team members.
I wish you successful treatment of your condition and satisfactory stay at the Department of Cardiology, IKEM.
Professor Josef Kautzner, MD, PhD
Head, Department of Cardiology
