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Interventional Cardiology
Interventional Cardiology
The Heart & Lung Center’s staff of 21 Board Certified cardiologists provides a full range of medical and interventional treatment of cardiovascular problems, including techniques of angioplasty, rotoblading and stenting to open narrowed arteries. Having pioneered the use of primary angioplasty in 1991, PRH interventional cardiologists have been leaders in performing this procedure on heart attack patients. In 2002, they published results demonstrating that their outcomes in PRH's community hospital setting were equivalent to those at major academic centers.
Angioplasty
Angioplasty, also known as P.T.C.A., coronary artery balloon dilation or balloon angioplasty, is an established and effective therapy for some patients with coronary artery disease. Angioplasty may be used to dilate (widen) narrowed arteries. A catheter with a deflated balloon on its tip is passed into the narrowed part of the artery. Then the balloon is inflated and the narrowed area is widened. Angioplasty is a less traumatic and less expensive alternative to bypass surgery for some patients; however, in 25-30% of patients, the dilated segment of the artery renarrows within six months of the procedure. If this happens, the patient may require a repeat angioplasty, stent or coronary artery by-pass surgery.
Several other techniques may be used by cardiologists at the Heart & Lung Center in place of or in addition to balloon angioplasty.
Directional Coronary Atherectomy (DCA) uses a catheter with a metal cylinder at the end that contains a cutting block that shaves plaque from the artery and collects it in the nose cone. The cone and catheter are then removed from the body.
Rotational Coronary Atherectomy (Rota) uses a catheter with a high-speed burr coated with diamond tips. The burr grinds the hard plaque inside the artery into fine particles that then pass downstream without blocking the patient's circulation.
Coronary Stent Implantation provides an alternative to methods that remove arterial plaque. The stent procedure uses a wire mesh tube to prop open an artery that has recently been cleared using angioplasty. Stents have been shown to have a lower reblockage rate than angioplasty alone.
Drug-eluting Stents, approved by the FDA in the spring of 2003, offer great promise in the treatment of blocked coronary arteries. Stents are used in angioplasty to open blocked coronary arteries and keep them open. These tiny wire mesh implants have been used successfully for many years by Heart & Lung Center cardiologists.
The newest technology, which has just received FDA approval, involves coating the stent with a drug that works to prevent the artery from reclogging (restenosis) - the most common problem following angioplasty (artery-opening) procedures. Our state-of-the-art digital cardiac catheterization laboratories provide our interventional cardiologists with superior imaging for the precise placement of the new drug-eluting stents.
A common problem has been scar tissue forming near the site of the implanted stent, often causing the artery to reclog after just four to eight months. Reclogging, a condition known as restenosis, occurs in about 30 percent of stenting procedures. Recent studies have shown that patients who received drug-eluting stents benefited with significantly reduced risk of death, heart attack or repeat stenting or bypass surgery for the same artery.
The new stent slowly releases the drug Sirolimus, a compound traditionally used to prevent organ transplant rejection. It is the first such stent approved in the U.S. Physicians and industry analysts expect the new stents to revolutionize treatment of coronary artery disease and significantly cut the rate of artery reclogging following angioplasty procedures.
Pacemaker Implantation
Cardiac pacemakers help the heart to maintain a normal rhythm. The heart's natural pacemaker is a small mass of specialized cells in the top of the right atrium of the heart called the sinoatrial node. It produces the electrical impulses that cause the heart to beat. A defective natural pacemaker may cause the heartbeat to be too fast, too slow or irregular. The heart's electrical pathways may also be blocked.
An implanted pacemaker uses batteries to send electrical impulses to the heart to help it pump properly. An electrode is placed next to the heart wall and small electrical charges travel through the wire to the heart.
Pacemaker implantation is a very safe procedure that requires a short hospital stay. Most patients return to work within just a few days.
Find a Physician
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Lance Briggs, MD, FACC
Seacoast Cardiology Associates, PA
2064 Woodbury Avenue
Newington Park, Building 1, Ste 103
Newington, NH 3801
Maps & Directions -
Photo Not Available
Jeffery P. Colnes, MD, FACC
Seacoast Cardiology Associates, PA
2064 Woodbury Avenue
Newington Park, Building 1, Ste 103
Newington, NH 3801
Maps & Directions -
Photo Not Available
Peter J. Dourdoufis, DO, FACC
Atlantic Cardiology Associates
333 Borthwick Avenue
Suite 401
Portsmouth, NH 3801
Maps & Directions -
Photo Not Available
Jonathan Eddinger, MD, FACC
Seacoast Cardiology Associates, PA
3 TerraScape Parkway
Somersworth, NH 3878
Maps & Directions -
Photo Not Available
Alan S. Hymanson, MD, FACC
Seacoast Cardiology Associates, PA
3 TerraScape Parkway
Somersworth, NH 3878
Maps & Directions
Locations
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Seacoast Cardiology Associates, PA
Directions
2064 Woodbury Avenue
Newington Park, Building 1, Ste 103
Newington, NH 3801
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