Minimally Invasive Cardiac Treatment Keeps Heart Patients Close to Home
Merced, CA – January 31, 2019 – Cardiovascular experts at Mercy Medical Center’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab have performed more than 100 elective angioplasties, a procedure also known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). With this procedure, specialists (called interventional cardiologists) use a catheter to open a narrowed heart artery. The cardiologist can then place a device called a stent in the artery to help keep it open. Angioplasty can help ease the symptoms of heart disease, such as chest pain. Mercy Medical Center received its PCI certification in 2017.
“One of the benefits of having elective angioplasty available at Mercy Medical Center is that our patients don’t have to leave Merced to have the procedure,” says Rajwinder Gurai, Cardiac Cath Lab Supervisor at Mercy Medical Center. “Before, we were able to diagnose a blockage in an artery, but didn’t have the ability treat it. If we found a blockage, the cardiologist would have the patient transferred to another facility—up to an hour away—to perform the artery-opening procedure. Now cardiac patients can have this minimally-invasive procedure performed here in Merced by experienced interventional cardiologists.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Each minute, more than one person in the U.S. dies from a heart disease-related event. High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and smoking are 3 of the key heart disease risk factors. About half of Americans (49%) have at least one of these three risk factors. Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including diabetes, being overweight or obese, poor diet, and physical inactivity.
To learn more about cardiac services at Mercy Medical Center or to find a cardiac specialist please visit dignityhealth.org/merced.
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About Mercy Medical Center
Standing as the tallest building in Merced County with 8 levels and 186 licensed beds, Mercy Medical Center is one of the newest Dignity Health facilities. Its inviting, open design provides a positive healing environment where patients enjoy the peace and comfort of private rooms and birthing suites. Mercy Medical Center is a not-for-profit acute care hospital and is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation and Healthcare Organizations. The services offered include a family birth center, cancer center, rural health clinics, community health education center, home care, rehabilitation services, cardiac catheterization lab, total joint replacement program, robotics surgical system, and an outpatient surgical and diagnostic center.
Publish date:
Thursday, January 31, 2019