South Nassau First to Implant New Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Oceanside, NY, August 15, 2013 --(PR.com)-- South Nassau Communities Hospital was the first on Long Island to treat patients with a cardiac resynchronization therapy device recently approved by the FDA that demonstrated a 21 percent reduction in overall heart failure hospitalizations within the first year after implant as compared to previous trials for cardiac resynchronization therapy devices.

The device, the Viva® cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillation (CRT-D), has an adaptive algorithm function, which allows it to continuously adjust to individual patient needs and preserve each patient’s normal heart rhythms. The Viva is equipped with the latest advancement in shock reduction programing that enables the device to better differentiate between dangerous and harmless heart rhythms.

The device is also shaped for patient comfort with a contoured design that reduces skin pressure by 30 percent. It has a battery life of up to 11 years (a 25-percent increase in battery longevity as compared to other devices) and the only defibrillator lead with 10 years of demonstrated performance with active monitoring.

"The device has demonstrated that it can improve patients' overall quality of life, while reducing unnecessary hospitalizations," said Lawrence Kanner, MD, FACC, director of Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services at South Nassau.

Dr. Kanner and the Center for Cardiovascular Health have been in the forefront in providing heart failure patients on Long Island with the latest advancements in ICD devices and electrophysiology services. Dr. Kanner was the first on Long Island to implant the Incepta® ICD (recognized as the world’s smallest and thinnest ICD), Evia® pacemaker (which incorporates wireless monitoring system that immediately notifies the patient’s physician if the patient or the pacemaker is experiencing complications) and Revo MRI™ SureScan® pacing system (the first pacemaker in the U.S. specifically designed for use in a MRI environment).

ICDs and CRT-Ds have been proven in clinical studies to save and extend lives by preventing sudden cardiac death (SCD) and treating heart failure. Each year, SCD claims the lives of up to 460,000 people in the U.S. alone, and more people die from SCD than from lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.

Nearly 22 million people worldwide currently suffer from heart failure, a debilitating condition in which the heart weakens and gradually loses the ability to pump blood effectively. Approximately one million new cases of heart failure are diagnosed annually worldwide, making it the most rapidly growing cardiovascular disorder.

In addition to ICDs, Dr. Kanner and electrophysiologists at South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health use an array of advanced technologies to provide timely, accurate diagnoses and therapies to treat the range of cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) and defibrillator maintenance. Services include diagnostic studies, implantation and testing of pacemakers, and radiofrequency catheter ablation for the treatment of potentially fatal irregular heartbeats.

The center performs a wide range of coronary and peripheral interventional procedures, including balloon angioplasty, stenting, and thrombolytic therapy. When providing balloon angioplasty in an emergency, the center averages a door-to-balloon-time of approximately 68 minutes, which is 22 minutes faster than the medically recommended door-to-balloon time benchmark of 90 minutes. The center’s staff also includes specialists in non-invasive general cardiology.

Imaging specialists at the center are well-versed in nuclear cardiology (which generates images of the heart at work, during exercise, and at rest), echocardiogram via the trans-thoracic method (a non-invasive, highly accurate and quick assessment of the overall health of the heart in which a probe is placed on the chest wall of the patient to produce images of the heart), and transesophageal echocardiogram (which uses a specialized probe containing an ultrasound transducer at its tip that is passed into the esophagus and is used to provide clear views of areas of the heart that would be difficult to view transthoracically). The center’s cardiac imaging services also include stress echocardiogram (which involves exercising on a treadmill or stationary bicycle while the patient is monitored by technology using high-frequency sound waves that produces a graphic outline of the heart's movement, valves, and chambers) and diagnostic peripheral vascular ultrasound (noninvasive diagnostic technique used to evaluate the health of blood vessels) for patients with peripheral arterial disease.

South Nassau Communities Hospital is a recipient of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Foundation’s National Cardiology Data Registry (NCDR) ACTION Registry–Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) Gold Performance Achievement Award. The GWTG program is a quality-improvement program that helps hospitals provide cardiac and stroke care in accordance with the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations. Hospitals that continually meet or exceed the nationally accepted standards, or guidelines, improve their quality patient care by turning guidelines into “lifelines.” Upon meeting specific criteria, hospitals are recognized for performance achievement if at least 85 percent of their cardiac or stroke patients are treated and discharged according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s guidelines and recommendations.