Dr. Lance LaMotte with WAFB TV, “Discussing heart health during American Heart Month”

Watch the full interview here:
https://www.wafb.com/video/2026/02/26/discussing-heart-health-during-american-heart-month/

BATON ROUGE —

As American Heart Month comes to a close, cardiologists at Baton Rouge General are emphasizing how critical every second can be when treating a heart attack.

During a live interview with WAFB, Dr. Lance LaMotte, Interventional Cardiologist with Baton Rouge Cardiology Center and Chief of Cardiology at Baton Rouge General Hospital, spoke from inside the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab, where heart attack patients are brought for emergency treatment.

“This is our cardiac catheterization lab, which is basically an X-ray suite that functions as an operating room,” LaMotte said. “When patients are having heart attacks, this is where they’re brought so we can open the artery that’s causing the problem.”

In addition to restoring blood flow to the heart, the cath lab team can provide advanced support for patients experiencing complications such as heart failure or cardiogenic shock.

“We have lots of tools, medications and personnel here that are able to institute life-saving techniques,” LaMotte said.

Speed is one of the most important factors in treating a heart attack. Cardiologists often use the phrase “time is muscle,” meaning the longer the heart goes without proper blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart muscle.

The national benchmark for opening a blocked artery after a patient arrives at the hospital — known as “door-to-balloon time” — is 90 minutes.

At Baton Rouge General, that time has been reduced to 43 minutes, less than half the national benchmark.

“We’ve gotten that time down to 43 minutes here at this hospital just by some of the techniques and efficiencies that we’ve instituted,” LaMotte said.

That rapid response depends on coordination between multiple teams, including paramedics, emergency room staff, cardiologists and hospital administrators.

“It’s taken a big effort between the cardiologists, the ER, the paramedics and administrative teams to make it more efficient,” LaMotte said.

Doctors say that while no one hopes to ever need emergency cardiac care, having highly trained teams and rapid treatment systems in place can make a life-saving difference for patients experiencing a heart attack.