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.
Below are two novel trials exploring conditions of the aorta that are currently enrolling at Baylor Scott & White – The Heart Hospital Plano. These trials leverage our multi-disciplinary team approach, which brings Cardiothoracic and Vascular surgeons together in our TAA clinic for collaborative, simultaneous visits with each patient. This approach has proven time and again to better inform decisions surrounding patient care plans and help produce stronger outcomes.
Technology is constantly evolving, and disruptive innovation is pushing the boundaries of cardiothoracic therapeutics. The growing acceptance of less invasive transcatheter interventions, for example, has made it one of the more explored surgical modalities. This progressive technology in cardiothoracic surgery was underscored in many sessions at this year’s meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) in San Diego.
