ORLive Presents: Cardiac Catheterization With Angioplasty & Stent Placement

MARSHFIELD, WI - On Wednesday, May 16, at 4 p.m. CDT, an Internet audience will have a rare chance to watch a heart care procedure as it happens. During a live webcast on www.OR-Live.com from Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic interventional cardiologists will perform a live cardiac catheterization procedure as well as a possible angioplasty and stent placement. A physician moderator will be on hand to walk the audience through the procedure and give them the inside scoop on the crucial decisions the heart care team is making as they happen.
Juan Mesa, MD; Kamilla Buddemeier, MD; Milind Shah, MD; and Sherief Rezkalla, MD, all Marshfield Clinic interventional cardiologists on staff at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, will participate in this live webcast.

During a cardiac catheterization, a physician inserts a thin flexible tube called a catheter into an artery or vein in the arm or leg, and then advances the catheter into the chambers of the heart or coronary arteries. In order to view blockages in the arteries, physicians will inject a dye through the catheter and if a blockage is detected, a balloon can be inflated (angioplasty), which compresses the plaque against the artery wall and opens it. Additionally a stent, or wire mesh tube, can be deployed to hold the artery open.

According to the American Heart Association, one in three American adults have at least one type of cardiovascular disease. In 2004, approximately 1.3 million cardiac catheterizations and an estimated 664,000 percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasties and stents) were performed in the United States.

In 2006, Marshfield Clinic interventional cardiologists on staff at Saint Joseph’s Hospital performed more than 4,000 diagnostic and interventional cardiac procedures. Physicians on staff also specialize in the treatment of heart rhythm disorders, pediatric cardiology, women and heart disease as well as minimally invasive options for the treatment of heart disease. For the fifth consecutive year, Saint Joseph’s has been named by Solucient as one of the nation’s top 100 heart care hospitals. Being chosen as a top 100 hospital means fewer complications and better survival rates for heart patients receiving care at the Marshfield center.