PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital Offers First-of-Its-Kind Treatment for Heart Disease

WHITTIER, Calif., Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital has a new treatment option available for patients with severely calcified coronary artery disease. The new technology is a novel application of lithotripsy, sonic pressure waves or shockwave energy, which has been used for many years to safely break up kidney stones. It is now available to treat problematic calcium in the coronary arteries that can reduce blood flow in the heart.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.ⁱ  Each year, more than 600,000 people in the United States die of heart disease. As people with heart disease, specifically coronary artery disease, grow older and their disease progresses, plaque in the arteries evolves into calcium deposits, which harden the narrowing in the artery. Physicians often use stents to open an artery, and of the approximately one million patients that undergo a stent procedure each year, 30 percent have problematic calcium that increases their risk for adverse events by preventing the stent from expanding.ⁱⁱ

"Cardiologists at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital are committed to providing patients with access to many of the latest cardiovascular innovations to treat heart disease," said Guy Mayeda MD, interventional cardiologist at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital. "We are pleased to offer a new treatment, that improves the safety and efficacy for some of our patients with the most complex heart and vascular disease."

Calcium makes the artery rigid and more difficult to reopen with conventional treatments, including balloons, which attempt to crack the calcium when inflated to high pressure, and atherectomy, which drills through the calcium to open the artery.[iii] While atherectomy has been available for several decades, its use remains low, as it can sometimes result in complications for patients undergoing stent procedures.ⁱⁱⁱ The new shockwave technology, also known as intravascular lithotripsy or IVL, allows physicians to fracture the problematic calcium - using sonic pressure waves - so that the artery can be safely opened, and blood flow restored with the placement of a fully expanded stent and with a low rate of complications. ⁱⁱⁱ

About PIH Health

PIH Health is a nonprofit, regional healthcare network that serves approximately 3.7 million residents in the Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Gabriel Valley region. The fully integrated network is comprised of PIH Health Downey Hospital, PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, PIH Health Whittier Hospital, 35 outpatient medical office buildings, a multispecialty medical (physician) group, home healthcare services and hospice care, as well as heart, cancer, digestive health, orthopedics, women's health, urgent care and emergency services. The organization is recognized by Watson Health as one of the nation's Top Hospitals, and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) as one of the nation's top hospital systems for best practices, cutting-edge advancements, quality of care and healthcare technology. PIH Health is also certified as a Great Place to Work®. For more information, visit PIHHealth.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

ⁱ https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
ⁱⁱ Généreux P, et al. JACC 2014; 63(18);1845-54
ⁱⁱⁱ Hill J., Kereiakes D., et al. IVL for Severely Calcified Coronary Artery Disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020 Dec, 76 (22) 2635–2646. https://www.jacc.org/doi/full/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.09.603

SOURCE PIH Health

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