Advocate South Suburban Hospital recently implemented an emergency Primary Coronary Angioplasty (PCA) program. Research has demonstrated that PCA can be performed effectively in community hospitals that do not offer cardiac surgery services. The advantages of PCA over thrombolytic therapy in patients experiencing acute MI with ST segment elevation is well-documented. South Suburban/MidAmerica Cardiovascular cardiologists are involved in the program as experienced clinicians capable of performing PCA in emergent situations and will provide follow up care at Christ Hospital if patients requiring open heart surgery are transferred.

A newly created Cardiovascular Council at Christ Medical Center will be composed of a new leadership team and other key faculty from cardiology and cardiovascular and peripheral vascular surgery. Leaders are: Paul Silverman, MD, chief of the section of cardiology; Allan Zelinger, MD, director of the cardiodiagnostics laboratory; and Bruce Abramowitz, MD, laboratory director of interventional cardiology and research.

Cardiovascular surgeon Mark Slaughter MD explains robotic surgical procedures shown on “live” video feed during a national conference held at Advocate Christ Medical Center in November. The program was the nation’s first conference on use of robotic technology in repair of the heart’s mitral valve. Pat Pappas MD and his surgical team performed the robotic surgery that was viewed by about 70 surgeons from across the United States and the United Kingdom. Sponsored by Intuitive Surgical, which developed the technology, the symposium followed federal Food and Drug Administration approval of the da Vinci Surgical System for use in repair of the heart’s mitral valve. Christ Medical Center’s surgeons have achieved among the best clinical results in the world with the new technology. Heart patients are leaving the hospital within 24 hours or less after undergoing robotic surgery.