February is American Heart Month
It’s time to think about your cardiovascular health.
MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute is dedicated to prevention, detection and providing minimally invasive treatments for cardiovascular disease. The Institute offers what is perhaps the most minimally invasive advancements in cardiac surgery and cardiology available in the region.
“That means we can evaluate common and complex cases of cardiovascular disease and offer many types of minimally invasive surgical and non-surgical techniques to treat these problems and allow patients a quicker recovery,” said Marc Sakwa, M.D., chief of cardiovascular surgery and medical director of adult cardiovascular surgery at the MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute.
“The MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute care team treats diseases of the coronary arteries, heart valves, and major blood vessels, along with correcting irregular heart rhythms and acute care for patients with heart attacks,” said Dr. Sakwa. “The team has thousands of hours of experience operating in minimally invasive procedures, using smaller incisions for small catheters in order to achieve these results. The approach is aided by advanced imaging technology, precise, state-of-the-art surgical instruments and robotic assistance for greater precision.”
Advantages for the patients are less pain, fewer scars and faster recovery.
“Our primary focus is to treat complex cardiovascular diseases in the least invasive way possible for each individual,” Dr. Sakwa explained. “Working together as a team, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons provide a multidisciplinary approach to individualize each patient’s care.”
“Having state-of-the-art testing equipment allows our physicians to determine the most effective and least invasive treatment,” Dr. Sakwa added. “Many of these procedures can be done with catheters, particularly for those patients considered high risk for surgery.”
MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute has an aorta center, devoted to treating various conditions of the largest artery in the body. Many of these procedures can be done with catheters, preventing patients from having large open-heart surgery. Treating heart valve disease, which can cause heart failure, strokes, and shortness of breath, is one of our most common minimally invasive catheter procedures. Patients with aortic and mitral valve disease are discussed at a weekly conference with both surgeons and cardiologists, getting a team consensus on which procedure is best for each individual patient.
If left untreated, cardiovascular conditions such as valve disorders, atrial fibrillation, aneurysms, congenital heart defects and coronary artery disease can result in serious illness or death. Heart disease has long been the leading cause of death for both men and women.
“Women tend to be diagnosed with heart conditions later in life than men, and by the time it is detected, the disease has progressed and is more serious,” Dr. Sakwa said. As part of a strong health system like MemorialCare, MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute partners with heart specialists at the Children’s Heart Institute at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach in developing early heart disease detection programs for women.
“There’s a growing number of heart patients with severe acuity who also may have a COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 may cause myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart,” Dr. Sakwa explained. The virus also tends to cause blood clots, which can be a problem after surgery. Unless emergency treatment is needed, doctors advise those with acute COVID-19 infection to recover from the infection before proceeding with surgery, if possible.
Considering a heart beats 100,000 times a day throughout a lifetime, it is a good idea to make sure it is healthy. Annual physicals and screenings can help detect a need for some adjustments or repairs. If that’s the case, MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute will focus on finding the most effective and least invasive treatment.