What type of procedures are performed at your facility?

We perform diagnostic caths, cardiac and vascular interventions, EP studies, ablations, pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) procedures. We have recently started doing atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) closures and alcohol septal ablations. We also recently started doing a few peripheral interventions, mostly iliac and renals. Our annual procedure volume is approximately 9,600 procedures.

Does your cath lab perform primary angioplasty with surgical backup on-site?

O

How does the Genous R stent address some of the problems we see with bare metal stents (BMS) and drug-eluting stents (DES)?

If you look at a 2002 publication in Herz (a German cardiology journal) from Prof. Renu Virmani’s group¹ comparing the results of a DES implantation to intravascular brachytherapy, basically what this study showed is an absence of vessel healing combined with a chronic inflammatory reaction after DES placement. This was remarkably similar to what happens to the vessel wall after brachytherapy. This study showed that the effect of DES placemen

Reprinted with permission from
Vascular Disease Management 2007;4(4):133-140.

This article can be read in full at:

http://vasculardiseasemanagement.com/article/7540

______________________________

The commentary to this article, "Percutaneous Revascularization of Peripheral Chronic Total Occlusion Which Patients, Why, and How?"

By:

¹Aravinda Nanjundappa, MD and ²Robert Dieter, MD

¹Division of Cardiology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina and
²Division of Cardiology, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinoi

The most recent concern for crossing the aortic valve in patients with aortic stenosis stems from a report in The Lancet by Omran et al who reported findings in their paper Silent and apparent cerebral embolism after retrograde catheterisation of the aortic valve in valvular stenosis: a prospective, randomised study.¹ The authors suggest that catheterization via the retrograde approach for aortic stenosis is unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

Of 152 patients with valvular aortic stenosis, 101 undergoing cardiac catheterization with and 51 without catheter passage throu

Case Report

A 54-year-old woman without previous cardiovascular history was transported via ambulance to an outside instituton after a syncopal episode. While delivering a presentation at work, she experienced a 30-second prodrome of dizziness prior to collapsing to the floor. Upon recovery of consciousness, the patient denied chest pain, dyspnea, further dizziness or other symptoms. Rhythm strip (lead II) from the emergency medical service revealed marked sinus bradycardia at 37 beats per minute, with prominent ST-segment elevations, consistent with acute myocardial infarction (Figu

One barrier to the acceptance of transradial catheterization in the U.S. is the dearth of formal training within fellowship programs. Many invasive cardiologists are faced with the challenge of learning a new technique in the setting of a busy clinical practice. This was a challenge we faced 10 years ago when we decided to begin a trans-radial program at our center. In order to provide insight for those currently considering initiation of a transradial program, I have used our experience to distill the essential technical components of the procedure.

There are four main components:

1)

That was the opportunity presented to the cath lab team at The University of Kansas Hospital in October of 2001 when work began in earnest to design our new Center for Advanced Heart Care. The facility was conceived as part of the vision of the Mid-America Cardiology and MidAmerica Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons, two groups of physicians who came to The University of Kansas Hospital in 2000 after leaving a successful heart program at another hospital.

Challenges in Planning and Construction Decisions

In October 2001, the hospital hired a prominent health planner, Frank Zi

What is evidence-based medicine?

In my opinion, evidence-based medicine is the treatment of patients according to current knowledge, that is, evidence from major randomized controlled studies. Due to the large number of exclusion criteria in most of these studies, you will probably not be able to treat the majority of your patients according to evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine can only be applied if your patient is similar to those who have been studied in these trials.

How do you assess evidence?

The first question you have to answer when applying evid

The value of continued education in healthcare cannot be discounted, especially in the dynamic cardiovascular industry. In fact, one of the most important things you can do to ensure future success in your career is to remain on top of the latest industry trends and happenings by whatever means are available to you. There are many educational options, including formal classes at colleges or universities, online courses, seminars and educational conferences, as well as literature and periodicals, which can provide the additional knowledge necessary to make the most of your current role and also

Continuous improvement means improving quality and reducing costs by enhancing the efficiency of care delivery processes. These processes involve all cardiovascular specialties and have a substantial impact on how a department or hospital operates. In this article, we look at how best to utilize standards and competencies, and how their use can aid in each cath lab’s ongoing quest for continuous improvement.

Using Standards to Improve Job Performance

Training to improve performance has always existed. As long as there have been skills, there has been training to prepare the ne