IN Murrysville Spring 2014 | Page 23

“When you’re having a heart attack, time is muscle. Quick
intervention increases your chance of survival and minimizes
damage to the heart,” says Abdulrab Aziz, MD, chief of cardiology
at UPMC East.

“UPMC East’s cardiac catheterization lab allows critically ill patients
to be treated quickly and efficiently. It can mean the difference
between life and death,” says Dr. Mulukutla, who oversees cardiac
interventions at all UPMC hospitals.

At UPMC East, a team of cardiologists, nurses, and technologists is
on call 24/7 to treat emergency heart conditions. Because so many
team members live close by, they can be at the state-of-the-art
cath lab within 20 minutes. There, doctors diagnose and treat heart
problems using specialized imaging equipment to visualize the
heart’s arteries and chambers.

Jay says he is amazed at the care he received at UPMC East. “I had
a massive heart attack, but two hours later, I felt wonderful,” he
says. “Everyone knew just what to do; they were phenomenal. And
they saved my life.”

National guidelines call for hospitals to perform an angioplasty —
a procedure used to open narrow or blocked coronary (heart)
arteries using a thin catheter (tube) with a balloon at its tip —
within 90 minutes, starting from the moment a patient enters the
hospital until the balloon is inflated and blood flow restored.
Since UPMC East opened in 2012, the hospital has averaged an
impressive “door-to-balloon” time of just 66 minutes — well
below current guidelines.

To schedule an appointment with a UPMC East physician, visit
UPMC.com/FindADoctor, or call toll-free 1-800-533-UPMC (8762).

A Watchful Eye for Better Care
As director of the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute’s
Center for Quality, Outcomes, and Clinical Research
(CQOR), Dr. Mulukutla leads efforts to track and evaluate
cardiac outcomes patient-by-patient throughout UPMC.
“Strong oversight ensures things are done right,” says
Dr. Mulukutla. “It’s also an opportunity to learn and
improve care.”
Dr. Mulukutla says UPMC East has done “a remarkable
job” since opening in 2012. “Cardiac patients treated at
East have been very, very sick,” he says. “But the hospital’s
emergency cardiac catheterization outcomes have been
terrific — well within national guidelines.”

Anticipated changes in those guidelines are expected to raise the
bar by calling for a “field-to-balloon” (arrival of EMS to restoring
blood flow) time of 90 minutes. Remarkably, Jay’s procedure
was even faster than that: 90 minutes after the initial 911 call,
he was already recovering in the Intensive Care Unit; two days later
he was home.

A team effort
Collaboration with local EMS providers is an “extremely critical”
element of the UPMC East STEMI alert program, says Dr. Aziz.
By transmitting EKG results directly to the ED, the cath lab team
can be activated before the patient arrives — saving at least
20 minutes, he says.
“It takes a coordinated effort by EMS, nurses, technicians, and
doctors to get a patient into the lab as quickly as possible,” says
Dr. Aziz. “Our goal is to open that blocked artery as fast as we can.”

A vital service
Suresh Mulukutla, MD, director of interventional cardiology at
UPMC Presbyterian and the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute
(HVI), says the hospital provides a vital service for Pittsburgh’s
eastern suburbs.

UPMC East’s partnership with the renowned UPMC HVI
means patients have access to internationally acclaimed
experts, sophisticated life-saving treatments, and technology.
In addition to emergency cardiac interventions,
UPMC East offers:
• A full range of cardiac services, including:
> Diagnostic imaging
> Catheterizations
> Stress tests
> Echocardiogram tests
> Pacemaker insertions
• Comprehensive outpatient care, including cardiologists
and other specialists at UPMC at Oxford Drive.
Patients needing open-heart surgery (such as a valve
replacement, coronary bypass, or transplant) are
transferred to UPMC Shadyside or UPMC Presbyterian
for treatment. Because UPMC East’s cardiologists also
are on staff at those hospitals, patients continue with the
same physician for follow-up care.
“The transfer of care is fast and seamless,” says
Dr. Mulukutla.

This advertorial has been provided by UPMC. © 2014 UPMC

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