Cath Lab Digest

Vascular Solutions Introduces New Muskie™ 0.014” Guidewires

Vascular Solutions, Inc. recently launched its new Muskie line of 0.014” guidewires. Muskie guidewires offer a range of distal tip stiffness that allow physicians to select an appropriate guidewire for crossing highly stenosed lesions.

Muskie guidewires have a one-piece core construction that is designed to transfer torque from the proximal portion of the guidewire to the distal tip, which allows precise control. The Muskie guidewires are available in lengths of 195 cm or 300 cm with five options for tip stiffness — 3g, 4.5g, 6g, 9g, and 12g — providing physicians with multiple options for accessing challenging lesions. The Muskie line of guidewires are intended for use in the coronary or peripheral vasculature, and are currently available for sale in the U.S.

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Paramedic Team Initiates Combined Cutting-Edge “Cooling” Therapy With Resqpod™ and EZ IO™ Heart Attack Devices At The Scene — Saving Time and Saving Lives

Saints Medical Center (Lowell, MA) paramedics, also known as “Greater Lowell EMS” are the first 911 Advanced Life Support (ALS) medics in Massachusetts to offer a new combination of potentially lifesaving treatments at the scene of a sudden cardiac arrest in the community. Saints paramedics now bring “therapeutic hypothermia,” the RESQPOD™ threshold impedance device and the EZ IO™ intraosseous vascular access device to life-threatening cardiac emergency events, increasing the chances of survival and improving the functional outcomes of those who survive.

In January 2009, Saints introduced the first paramedic-initiated therapeutic hypothermia program in the region, starting the life- and brain-saving cooling process right out in the field, at the earliest possible time. The therapy uses a combination of external cooling and internal cooling with chilled intravenous (IV) saline infusions. Previously, this therapy was induced when the patient arrived at the Medical Center. Research indicates that those who receive the earliest therapeutic hypothermia treatment have the best chance of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest and retaining the best brain possible function.

Saints paramedics are also using the Resqpod, a small device that is attached to the breathing tube placed by paramedics into the windpipe of a patient in cardiac arrest. The device creates a vacuum effect on blood vessels in the chest and helps to draw life-sustaining blood into a stopped heart as it is being pumped artificially by CPR.

The third weapon in their arsenal, the EZ IO device, allows Saints paramedics to insert a catheter directly into the bone marrow of a critically ill patient’s shin, ankle or shoulder bones with a special medical drill. Once inserted, the EZ IO allows paramedics to rapidly infuse lifesaving fluids and drugs. In several cases, the EZ IO has enabled Saints paramedics to make the critical difference in saving the lives of patients with collapsed veins from poor heart function or massive blood loss. These are situations where establishing standard intravenous access may be delayed or impossible. Saints paramedics are the first to deploy the EZ IO device in the field in the Greater Lowell area and the Saints Emergency Department physicians also utilize the EZ IO when necessary. Combining the EZ IO and Resqpod with better CPR and other new treatments such as therapeutic hypothermia, offers the best chance for improving survival and functional outcome.

To provide therapeutic hypothermia, Saints paramedics chill several intravenous (IV) fluids to 4 to 5 degrees Celsius in portable temperature controlled medical coolers that have been installed on the Saints rapid response medic units. “Once the Saints paramedics initiate therapeutic hypothermia care in the field, the patient then flows through our fully integrated emergency department, cardiac catheterization lab and intensive care unit,” added Erin Boutin, RN, Saints cardiac catheterization laboratory manager. “We work as one team committed to the patient’s best outcome.”

In 2007, Saints instituted the first in-hospital therapeutic hypothermia protocol in the Merrimack Valley. It was quickly put to work when the Saints therapeutic hypothermia protocol saved the life of Tyngsboro resident Biharibhai Patel. “We can save lives because the paramedics recognize a heart attack out in the field and activate the critical care team at the hospital,” said Kirk MacNaught, MD, interventional cardiologist at Saints. “We are called in and ready when the patient arrives. In that sense, we are ahead of the curve.”

Established in 1983, Saints paramedics were the first ALS team in the Merrimack Valley. The Saints strategy for increasing survival and promoting best outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest is in accordance with the most current recommendations of the American Heart Association and other sudden cardiac arrest survival efforts, such as the Take Heart America program.

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