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A New Era in Heart Care
Phoenix Heart Center first to launch Radial First Program in Arizona
PHOENIX, AZ - (Dec. 13, 2011) - When a cardiologist needs to evaluate the arteries of a patient’s heart, a diagnostic cardiac catheterization procedure, called a coronary angiogram, may be recommended. Traditional angiograms involve inserting a catheter through the femoral artery — also called the groin approach — in order to better visualize and diagnose arterial blockages. However, Phoenix Heart Center cardiologists on the medical staff at St. Luke’s Medical Center have developed the first Radial First Program in Arizona to provide patients with a new option — accessing the heart and vascular system through the radial artery in the wrist, also called the radial approach.
“In recent major studies, the radial approach — in contrast to the femoral approach — is associated with an 80 percent reduction in major bleeding and a significant reduction in major adverse cardiac events for up to one year after surgery,” said John Lassetter, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, interventional cardiologist at the Phoenix Heart Center. “At the Phoenix Heart Center, we use the radial first approach in all of our procedures, unless there is an extraordinary circumstance that prevents us from doing so.”
Dr. Lassetter, who has nearly 20 years of experience applying the radial access approach to coronary angiograms, partnered with Richard Heuser, M.D., FACC, FACP, FESC, FSCAI, chief of cardiology at St. Luke’s Medical Center, to develop the Radial First Program because of the vast benefits and lower risk it represents for patients.
“Patients who would normally be required to remain hospitalized overnight for a coronary angiogram can now go home just a few hours following the procedure. In some cases, patients are mobile almost immediately after undergoing the procedure,” said Dr. Lassetter. “Because of the buzz the radial approach is receiving online, patients are now demanding it.”
Drs. Lassetter and Heuser are nationally recognized experts and are members of a select group of interventional cardiologists specially trained on the radial approach — a group that represents 2 percent of the interventional cardiologists nationwide.
“We have sought to train the medical community about the benefits of this procedure and how to correctly perform the procedure,” said Dr. Lassetter. “We also write numerous papers about the approach, blog about it monthly and are currently training other facilities to attain Radial First status.”
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