Heart smart: update on Indiana heart centers and cardiac treatments.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: HEALTH CARE

NO MATTER WHAT REGION of Indiana you live m, there are qualified heart centers and heart hospitals performing the latest procedures and conducting research to continue to improve outcomes. Here is an update on the latest cardiovascular technology being used and the newest procedures being performed in each region.

Central Indiana. On January 1, Community Health Network, The Indiana Heart Hospital and cardiovascular physician practices formed one cohesive entity to deliver the first integrated model for heart and vascular care in central Indiana, Community Heart and Vascular. "All aspects of the program are co-managed with physicians," says Dr. Ramu Yeleti, president of Community Heart and Vascular. "Patients will benefit from having access to a full continuum of integrated cardiovascular services." Advantages include the ability to better harmonize and leverage related clinical services, the expansion of clinical research and teaching opportunities and alignment of economic and operating efficiencies.

"These new integrated relationships set the highest standards for heart and vascular care and will allow us to meet a growing demand for cardiovascular services in the area," adds Tom Malasto, CEO of Community Heart and Vascular and The Indiana Heart Hospital. The hospital operates the state's only cardiac emergency room with a cardiologist on-site 24/7/365. Its door-to-balloon rime is around 30 minutes, well ahead of the national standard of 90 minutes. It offers some of the latest procedures including a standalone, minimally invasive surgical procedure for atrial fibrillation with a 90 percent success rate for patients with intermittent atrial fibrillation; valve repair/replacement and ventricular remodeling for patients with severe congestive heart failure; a new laser treatment to remove defective or non-functional implantable cardiac defibrillator leads (wires); and hypothermic therapy, cooling the patient's core body temperature, for resuscitated cardiac arrest patients.

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The St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana is the largest cardiovascular center in the state. "Being such a high-volume center, we have multiple research projects with several vendors going on all the rime in every division," says John Stewart, president and CEO of the St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana. "We cover the full spectrum, all the way from pediatrics in our Peyton Manning Children's Hospital to acute care at our Seton Center."

For example, the hospital is working with several ventricular assist device vendors to test the latest versions of those devices, as well as new implantable defibrillators. "With the aging of the Baby Boomers, we are starting to see a significant growth in the heart failure and the electrophysiology arenas," Stewart says.

This March the hospital will televise and deliver several complex interventional cath procedures, via real-time, to the national conference of the American College of Cardiology.

The Center did more than 16 heart transplants last year, exceeding the volume requirements (10) for Medicate. "With our growth in, and focus on, heart failure, our volumes are now the highest in the state," Stewart says.

St. Francis Heart Center is the only 24/7 comprehensive heart center in south central Indiana and The Midwest Heart Valve Center, a collaborative venture of St. Francis Heart Center, Indiana Heart Physicians and Cardiac Surgery Associates, is the only center focused on heart valve disease. St. Francis Heart Center is taking part in an FDA-approved clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of using lower dosages of blood-thinning drugs in conjunction with the On-X artificial heart valve. "The On-X valve could become the first mechanical heart valve approved for use with lower doses of anticoagulants such as Coumadin or even antiplatelet therapy (aspirin and Plavix) alone," says Dr. Marc W. Gerdisch, investigator and director of cardiothoracic surgery at St. Francis Heart...