INDIANAPOLIS – Heart attack patients and others with coronary conditions may benefit from a catheter-based pump device being evaluated in a clinical trial now under way at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers.
The device is the Impella 2.5, developed by the Massachusetts-based Abiomed Inc. St. Francis is one of the few medical facilities to participate in the PROTECT II trial, the second Food and Drug Administration-approved trial for prophylactic preventive use of the device during non-emergent high-risk coronary intervention procedures.
“We are please to participate in the pivotal PROTECT II trial and we look forward to improving the treatment of high-risk patients,” said principal investigator William J. Berg, M.D., of the Indiana Heart Physicians and St. Francis Heart Center. “The Impella offers physicians a minimally invasive breakthrough technology in cardiac treatment and we’re excited to further demonstrate its effectiveness in this secondary trial.”
The current trial follows Abiomed’s previous PROTECT I trial, which yielded successful results for the ease-of-use and safety of the device, according to company officials.
The Impella 2.5, the world's smallest ventricular assist device (VAD), provides patients with up to 2.5 liters of blood flow per minute. It’s been used to treat more than 1,000 patients in Europe who have had heart attacks and cardiogenic shock, a condition in which a weakened heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
The trial was approved earlier this year by institutional review board, which oversees all clinical investigations conducted at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers.
To be eligible for the study, patients must have a left main lesion, only one remaining vessel open, or have triple vessel disease. They also must have a low ejection fraction (below 30 percent or 35 percent, depending on their other qualifying traits).
For more information about the trial, contact Kathy Lawson at 317-851-2582.
More details about the Abiomed’s Impella 2.5 device can be found at www.abiomed.com/products/impella.cfm.
The St. Francis Heart Center is a state-of-the-art facility and the only full-service cardiac and vascular care program on Indianapolis’ south side. For more information about its services go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/Heart.
Editors/Reporters: Still images and DVD B-roll are available
Showing posts with label heart attack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart attack. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
‘Heart Matters’ when it comes to women and their health; program open to public
INDIANAPOLIS – With Mother’s Day just around the corner, it’s clear the life of a mother is anything but a holiday: Taking care of kids, running errands, working straight through the day and skipping lunch. Women often are so busy taking care of others they forget to care for themselves, perhaps ignoring or being unaware of signs of their risk of heart disease.
That’s why the St. Francis Heart Center is offering "Heart Matters: What Every Woman Should Know About Heart Disease." The program, which is free to the public, is 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 8.
Cardiologist Babu Doddapaneni, M.D., of the Indiana Heart Physicians is the featured presenter. He will discuss risk factors and heart disease, how women’s symptoms for a heart attack differ from men’s, less-invasive surgical procedures that benefit women, blood pressure and cholesterol, and how diet, weight and physical activity are important in preventing heart disease.
The program is at the Heart Center’s community center on the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis campus, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.
The program is free; registration is requested. To register online go to http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/Heart/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=38 or call (317) 782-4422.
More information about the St. Francis Heart Center is at http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/Heart.
That’s why the St. Francis Heart Center is offering "Heart Matters: What Every Woman Should Know About Heart Disease." The program, which is free to the public, is 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 8.
Cardiologist Babu Doddapaneni, M.D., of the Indiana Heart Physicians is the featured presenter. He will discuss risk factors and heart disease, how women’s symptoms for a heart attack differ from men’s, less-invasive surgical procedures that benefit women, blood pressure and cholesterol, and how diet, weight and physical activity are important in preventing heart disease.
The program is at the Heart Center’s community center on the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis campus, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.
The program is free; registration is requested. To register online go to http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/Heart/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=38 or call (317) 782-4422.
More information about the St. Francis Heart Center is at http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/Heart.
Monday, February 11, 2008
St. Francis Heart Center earns national praise for coronary care
INDIANAPOLIS — The Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG–CAD) Silver Performance Achievement Award.
The award recognizes the Heart Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.
Under GWTG–CAD, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/ weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged.
Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for at least one year that 85 percent of its coronary patients (without risk factors) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.
“We are dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Heart Center Executive Director Michael Hertel. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”
“The American Heart Association applauds the Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The Center has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”
The GWTG program is designed to increase the use of and adherence to the American Heart Association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals in following proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients.
The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement AHA/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
One such team at St. Francis is the Emergency Heart Attack Response Team (EHART), which recently has received international acclaim for developing a protocol that more effectively treats heart attack patients. Led by Umesh Khot, M.D., a cardiologist with the St. Francis Heart Center and Indiana Heart Physicians, EHART has reduced the time until patients receive lifesaving care after coming to the emergency department with chest pain.
Compared to the traditional protocol, patients arrived at the cardiac catheterization lab sooner, had less heart damage and shorter hospital stays. In addition, the EHART protocol also reduced the costs of care.
The EHART protocol has been requested by more than 170 hospitals and heart experts around the world within the last year.
More information about EHART is at www.heartattackcare.net.
According to the American Heart Association, about 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.
The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.
The award recognizes the Heart Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease.
Under GWTG–CAD, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/ weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged.
Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Silver Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for at least one year that 85 percent of its coronary patients (without risk factors) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.
“We are dedicated to making our cardiac unit among the best in the country, and the Get With The Guidelines program is helping us accomplish that by making it easier for our professionals to improve the long-term outcomes of our cardiac patients,” said Heart Center Executive Director Michael Hertel. “We are pleased to be recognized for our dedication and achievements in cardiac care.”
“The American Heart Association applauds the Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers for its success in implementing the appropriate evidence-based care and protocols to reduce the number of recurrent events and deaths in cardiovascular disease patients,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. “The Center has achieved a high level of performance in terms of implementing these life-prolonging treatments.”
The GWTG program is designed to increase the use of and adherence to the American Heart Association’s secondary prevention guidelines for coronary artery disease. Developed to assist healthcare professionals in following proven standards and procedures before patients are discharged, GWTG–CAD can help reduce the risk of recurrent heart attacks and death in treated patients.
The program, which works by mobilizing teams in acute care hospitals to implement AHA/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines, was developed with support from an unrestricted educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
One such team at St. Francis is the Emergency Heart Attack Response Team (EHART), which recently has received international acclaim for developing a protocol that more effectively treats heart attack patients. Led by Umesh Khot, M.D., a cardiologist with the St. Francis Heart Center and Indiana Heart Physicians, EHART has reduced the time until patients receive lifesaving care after coming to the emergency department with chest pain.
Compared to the traditional protocol, patients arrived at the cardiac catheterization lab sooner, had less heart damage and shorter hospital stays. In addition, the EHART protocol also reduced the costs of care.
The EHART protocol has been requested by more than 170 hospitals and heart experts around the world within the last year.
More information about EHART is at www.heartattackcare.net.
According to the American Heart Association, about 565,000 people suffer a new heart attack and 300,000 experience a recurrent heart attack each year. Statistics also show that within one year of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die. Within five years after an attack, about 33 percent of men and 43 percent of women will die.
The American Heart Association’s GWTG program is being implemented in hospitals around the country.
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