Less-Invasive Heart Care 
Genesis Marks Heart Month With Nationally Recognized Outcomes    (Posted 2/8/06)

You need a procedure to open a blocked artery in your heart . . . 

If given the medical option, would you prefer to have a less invasive procedure in a catheterization lab and go home in a day?  Or would you choose a more risky open-heart surgery that requires a long chest incision, opening the rib cage, spending time on a heart-lung machine and afar longer recovery time? 

At Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, you're far more likely to go the less-invasive route.  More than 92 of every 100 heart procedures at Genesis are done in the catheterization lab, compared to 70-80 percent nationally. 

You're in the midst of a heart attack. . .  

Wouldn't you rather go to the Quad Cities' hospital that has achieved some of the fastest heart attack response times in the nation?  At Genesis, a coordinated team minimizes the loss of heart muscle following a heart attack by quickly opening blocked arteries an average 33 minutes faster than the national average. 

Leading the Nation
Heart care at Genesis is safer, less invasive and more efficient than at most United States hospitals, according to a new report from the American College of Cardiology.  

"The American College of Cardiology has delivered a very powerful message to the public during National Heart Month about heart care at Genesis," said Edmund Coyne, M.D., an interventional cardiologist who is Chairman of the Genesis Heart Institute Board of Directors.  "The message is that if you are a heart patient at Genesis, you can expect to have a less-invasive procedure to open blocked arteries, you can expect a shorter hospital stay than you would have at other hospitals nationwide, and you can expect a high  level of safety from cardiologists and surgeons who practice at Genesis." 

While offering a comprehensive heart program that performs the highest number of open-heart surgeries in the region, Genesis Medical Center is at the forefront of the trend toward restoring blood supply to more hearts using less invasive techniques.  

Of every 100 patients who undergo heart procedures at Genesis, only 8 require more invasive and more expensive procedures that require a chest incision.  Other hospitals nationally are reporting that 20 to 30 of every 100 patients, or three to four times the number at Genesis, require chest incisions to restore blood supply. 

Excellent Outcomes
Genesis recently received an outcomes report for the first two quarters of 2005 from the American College of Cardiology.  Here are the outstanding highlights from the report: 

• Heart attack response times - Genesis ranked in the top five percent nationally in meeting the national standard of opening up a blockage of a patient within 90 minutes of the patient's arrival at the emergency department.  Genesis has a multidisciplinary M.. Alert team that has been able to clear the blockage of a patient as fast as 22 minutes after the patient's arrival at the emergency department.  
• Low mortality rate - Genesis had a risk-adjusted mortality rate for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), or catheterization procedures, that ranked in the 91st percentile of all hospitals admitting to the registry.  Only 31 of 330 hospitals across the nation reported lower mortality rates than Genesis to the American College of Cardiology.  The risk-adjusted mortality rate for PCI procedures at Genesis is seven-tenths of one percent.  
• Success at re-opening blocked arteries - Genesis ranked in the top one percent of submitting hospitals for its success at reopening blocked vessels. 
• Shorter hospital stay - Genesis ranked in the top three percent for discharging patients following PCI.  Genesis PCI patients spend an average of 1.8 days in the hospital following their procedures and can return to their normal routine faster. 

Genesis Medical Center is the only Quad Cities hospital that participates in the American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry.  The Registry is a risk-adjusted database of outcomes for hospitals throughout the United States.  Hundreds of pieces of data are submitted for each heart patient at Genesis. 

Dr. Coyne said Genesis has been able to open the blocked vessels of a rapidly increasing number of heart patients by less-invasive techniques while continuing to record outstanding patient outcomes. 

"There will always be patients who require open-heart surgery and Genesis has highly skilled heart surgeons who are board certified in at lest two disciplines," Dr. Coyne said.  "Open-heart surgery remains an important part of a comprehensive range of services that Genesis offers, but from a patient perspective, anything we are able to do that doesn't require open-heart surgery, while maintaining outstanding outcomes, is easier on the patient." 

Shauna Roberts, M.D., and Medical Director of the Genesis Heart Institute said, "February is National Heart Month, a month when health care organizations focus on the message of heart health, but Genesis Medical Center and the Genesis Heart Institute focus on hearts every day of the year with remarkable success and outcomes." 

"These results from the American College of Cardiology are absolutely sterling not only for Genesis, but for our patients." 

Left-main Artery Stenting 
One of the newest, less-invasive procedures available at Genesis is left-main coronary artery stenting.  Only a few hospitals in the country are doing this leading-edge procedure.  At Genesis, cardiologists have done more than 160.  

Inserting stents - the small metal coils that prop open an artery - has become a frequent procedure in today's cath labs.  What hasn't been so common is the use of coronary stents in hearts with more advanced disease.  Previously, a blockage in the left main coronary artery - a high risk area that supplies blood to a large portion of the heart - automatically required bypass surgery or a chest incision. 

Now, new technology, better techniques, and advancement in skills have allowed the left main artery to be opened with a less-invasive procedure in a catheterization lab. 

"Left-main stenting began as a way to offer desperate patients some kind of hope because there were people who couldn't withstand a big heart operation with a chest incision," Dr. Roberts says.  "That's how it began. 

"Most heart programs have done four cases . . .  eight cases  . . . 12 cases.  At Genesis, we've done more than 160 - or 88 in the first nine months of 2205 and prevented patients from needing heart surgery.  Left-main stenting at Genesis evolved and grew out of the fact that we have such a high volume and some exceptionally skilled interventionalists." 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted that between 2005 and 2010, the number of open-heart procedures performed in the United States will decline by 21 percent from 265,000 to 209,000.  in 2002, there were 306,000 open-heart procedures performed nationally. 

Genesis Medical Center, East Rusholme Street, performed more than 9,000 procedures in eight catheterization labs in 2005.