It is with great pleasure that we announce the opening of our Pulmonary Hypertension Program.

This clinic will be headed by Dr. Muhyaldeen Dia, M.D.,FACC in partnership with pulmonologist, Dr. Sahloul from Pulmonary Consults SC. Together with their staff, these two physicians will work to serve a vastly under treated population of patients.

Maureen Panella RN, BSN, CCRN, with over seventeen years of experience as a critical care nurse and six years of experience in the field of pulmonary hypertension and research, will join us as the program manager. Her role will encompass: coordinator of patient referrals, patient education, and direction of patient monitoring. This will allow pulmonary hypertension patients the ability to access the most current therapies and critical monitoring of their responses in addition to management of their right heart failure.

Once established, the Oak Lawn facility will be able to treat these patients in a timely manner at a convenient location from a cardiac and pulmonary standpoint. This would eliminate the need to travel a great distance for treatment.

Having the means to move a patient through a streamlined diagnostic evaluation is an important asset and a timely option to offer. We will be able to perform all of their outpatient evaluation on site including a pulmonary consultation if needed.

Upon completion of a right heart catheterization, which is imperative in completing a diagnostic evaluation, we will be able to determine with confidence the appropriate diagnosis and treat them with the correct medications and therapies.

Even though we will be serving as the specialist for their pulmonary hypertension, the patient will continue to require their Primary Care Physicians (PCP) assessment and monitoring of all other aspects of their care. We will communicate all patient therapies, their response to them, the monitoring plan, and any other information we know the PCP's might need to assist them in caring for these patients.

Having a center of excellence for pulmonary hypertension is a great addition to MidAmerica Cardiovascular Consultants, LTD. It will not only allow us to expand, it will allow us to help a grossly misunderstood and mismanaged population of patients.

If you would like to schedule an appointment for our Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic with Dr. Dia, please call our office at 708-636-7575 and we will direct you.