 Departments and Services > Cardiac Care > Primary Angioplasty
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 Angioplasty is the most effective procedure to save lives and reduce damage to the heart muscle when patients are suffering a heart attack. Performing emergency angioplasty within two hours of the onset of a heart attack has proven to minimize heart damage in 95 percent of all cases. Melrose-Wakefield Hospital (MWH) is now Read More
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Joe DiMarino was getting his golf clubs out of his car at Mount Hood when it hit him. Chest pains. Sweating. Difficulty breathing.
He was having a heart attack.
Within an hour, doctors at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital had performed life-saving surgery, and DiMarino was on the road to recovery.
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Angioplasty is the most effective procedure to save lives and reduce damage to the heart muscle when patients are suffering a heart attack. Performing emergency angioplasty within two hours of the onset of a heart attack has proven to minimize heart damage in 95 percent of all cases. Melrose-Wakefield Hospital (MWH) is now the first hospital in the 16 cities and towns it serves to offer this procedure in the new $1 million cardiac catheterization lab.
When a patient meets a specific clinical criteria the emergency angioplasty team performs a cardiac catheterization to locate the blockage. Then, the team inserts another catheter with a balloon on the end and guides it to the blockage. The doctor performs the angioplasty by inflating the balloon. Blood flow is restored to the artery and in most cases a stent is inserted to keep the artery open.
Primary angioplasty restores blood flow to a blocked coronary artery in the most timely manner. Studies have shown that emergency angioplasty works better than clot-busting medications. Quickly performing angioplasty reduces damage to the heart muscle."
MWH's efforts to offer the most advanced cardiac care services available at a community hospital, will save more lives. The angioplasty team includes four interventional cardiologists: service director Carl Turissini, MD, Laurence Conway, MD, David Criss, MD, and Khether Raby, MD, as well as six highly trained nurses and four technologists.
MWH recently upgraded the cardiac catheterization lab where angioplasty is performed. The hospital invested in state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment including the installation of an advanced, film-less, digital imaging equipment.
Nurses and technicians completed intensive training working closely with MWH's tertiary care partner, Massachusetts General Hospital, to prepare for the opening of the new cardiac catheterization lab and angioplasty service.
Read more about "Melrose-Wakefield Hospital: State-of-the-art heart service"
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