Interventional Cardiology Program

The UCSF Interventional Cardiology Program brings highly specialized providers together to care for patients with heart conditions. Working as a team, we tailor treatments to specific needs and create individualized plans. As our patient, you are part of the care team, and we work with you to identify the most effective and safest treatment for your heart condition.

Collaboration is essential to our mission. On your behalf, we first consult with our colleagues who specialize in cardiac surgery, vascular (blood vessel) surgery and electrophysiology (testing to assess the heart's electrical system), as well as those who specialize in specific conditions, such as advanced heart failure and adult congenital heart disease (heart defects present at birth). We then share these experts’ guidance to help you and your referring provider make informed decisions on your care.

Our program offers advanced therapies that aren’t commonly available at other hospitals. And our specialists take pride in finding ways to treat patients previously told they had no options.

The program focuses on the following services:

Complex diagnostics and treatments for problems with coronary arteries. The coronary arteries supply the heart with oxygenated blood. When they become narrowed or blocked, such as in chronic total occlusion, we can perform advanced techniques, such as antegrade and retrograde treatment approaches and left main stenting (placing a mesh tube to keep the vessel open). We also provide comprehensive physical assessments to diagnose other cardiovascular conditions, such as microvascular disease (when small blood vessels aren’t working correctly) and coronary vasospasm (when muscle tissues in the heart’s arteries temporarily contract).

Structural and valve treatments. We have expertise in advanced techniques to address problems with the heart's valves. These include transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), mitral and tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), and transcatheter mitral and tricuspid valve replacement (TMVR and TTVR). (Transcatheter interventions are less invasive methods that use a thin, flexible tube called a catheter, which cardiologists thread through blood vessels to reach the heart.)

Transcatheter treatments for heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. This includes using mechanical support devices, creating transcatheter shunts (passageways for fluid) and performing balloon pulmonary angioplasty (opening up blood vessels to address high blood pressure in the lungs caused by chronic blood clots).

Adult congenital heart disease treatments. We perform procedures to close a hole in the heart, such as patent foramen ovale (PFO) or atrial septal defect (ASD), as well as interventions for pulmonary valve conditions.

The fellowship-trained, board-certified interventional cardiologists on our team are recognized leaders in the field. In addition to patients who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, we welcome many who travel thousands of miles to receive our care.

Requests for second opinions are welcome, and we’re happy to discuss treatments that can meet individual goals for improved heart health.

Because our program is active in numerous clinical trials (studies to evaluate promising treatments), our patients have easy access to therapies that few other medical centers can provide.

"What I am going through is a scary thing. Having the team of people working at UCSF has made me feel I am not going through this alone." – Interventional Cardiology Program patient