As with most medical progress, the rapid advancement in treatment modalities for various forms of cardiovascular disease has been made possible in part by a better understanding of disease pathology.
As with most medical progress, the rapid advancement in treatment modalities for various forms of cardiovascular disease has been made possible in part by a better understanding of disease pathology.
As advances in heart failure treatment continue, Baylor University Medical Center remains at the forefront and is still one of the largest programs in Texas. In 2018, surgeons on the medical staff performed 54 heart transplants and implanted a record 78 LVADs (left ventricular assist device). Dan M. Meyer, MD, recently appointed surgical chief of heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support at Baylor Dallas, implanted the first LVAD at Baylor in 1996, and recently implanted the 500th LVAD, making BUMC the first hospital in North Texas to reach this milestone.
Baylor Scott & White Medical Centers in Temple and Round Rock have opened enrollment on a study examining the safety and efficacy of Etripamil Nasal Spray in terminating paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). These locations represent two of just four sites across the entire state of Texas that were awarded the trial.
It all started with one very sick patient. Transplant cardiologists Shelley Hall, MD, and Robert Gottlieb, MD, PhD, and cardiothoracic surgeon Gonzo Gonzalez-Stawinski, MD, with Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, faced a difficult situation. A heart transplant was needed for a patient with biventricular heart failure and multiple comorbidities, but her condition made her a poor candidate for bridging mechanical support therapy, like a ventricular assist device (VAD). Even though the Heart Transplant Program in the Baylor Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute at Baylor University Medical Center is nationally recognized for short donor organ wait times, it was not clear if a suitable donor heart would appear before the patient succumbed to the disease.
Despite the many advances in clinical care for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure (HF), cardiogenic shock (CS) survival remains unchanged at 40%. For MI patients alone, the 30-day mortality rate is 40-50%, and it has remained at this level for the last two decades.