Froedtert & MCW Physicians Bring Patients Heart Care Innovations

From the Mueller Communications LLC:

March 6 2020

February is Heart Month, and we’re not just talking about pink and red valentines. While heart disease continues to be the deadliest disease among Americans each year, there is good news in that researchers continue to identify new ways to leverage technology to develop more effective and efficient treatment methods.

As a result, many patients facing complex heart conditions no longer have to undergo open heart surgeries that lead to prolonged recovery times and the potential for additional health complications. Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin cardiac specialists are now performing a number of minimally invasive procedures that are cost-efficient and get patients back to their normal routines quicker.

Many of these new procedures use catheters that can be guided to areas of need in and around the heart where physicians are able to perform the required procedure to fix the complication.

As a result, procedures that in the past would require long, complex surgical processes that could involve opening the chest to access the heart and surrounding areas, are now, in many cases, able to be completed with only a small incision.

These new approaches help save on costs as recovery times are shorter and lessen the risk of complication for many patients, allowing them to return to their regularly scheduled lives much quicker.

Some examples of the groundbreaking ways Froedtert & MCW physicians are approaching heart care today, include:

• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which involves replacing aortic valves by using a catheter with a balloon tip. Once the catheter is moved into position using X-ray and ultrasound guidance, a new valve is placed into the artery by inflating the balloon, which creates space to deploy the new valve and move it into place.

• Treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or HCM, an inherited condition in which one’s heart muscle is abnormally thick, resulting in a partially blocked blood flow. One innovative option to treat this condition includes using a catheter with a balloon tip that’s inserted through a radial (wrist) artery or in the groin and threaded to the heart, where alcohol is injected into the thicker muscle areas needing treatment. The alcohol causes targeted heart cell muscles to shrink and die, resulting in scar tissue that is thinner and leads to improved blood flow.

• Treating a rare complication that can occur after aortic surgery in which there is leakage where the aorta joins the heart. Rather than performing open-heart surgery, Froedtert & MCW surgeons can insert a catheter via an incision only 2.5 inches long between the ribs, guide it to the area in need and close the leak while the heart continues beating.
• Catheter therapy replacing some types of failing surgical heart valves. Valve-in-valve, for example, is a catheter-based procedure for people with failing surgical tissue valves and who are at high risk for a second surgery. The patient receives a new valve and goes home the following day. Doctors at Froedtert & MCW teach this technique to others nationwide.

This press release was produced by the Mueller Communications LLC. The views expressed here are the author’s own.