Allegheny Health Network’s Allegheny General Hospital
AGH team targets faster care
for deadly blood clots
Pulmonary embolism has quietly become the nation’s
third-leading cause of cardiovascular death, after heart
attack and stroke. To combat this growing public health
concern, Allegheny General Hospital has established a
multidisciplinary, team-based approach that standardizes
the way patients suffering from pulmonary embolism (PE)
are diagnosed and treated.
AGH’s new pulmonary embolism response team, or
PERT, features cardiologists, pulmonary and critical care
specialists, and radiologists working together to quickly
identify and treat a disease that, according to the American
College of Cardiology, affects one in every 1,000 to 2,000
people in the United States. Pulmonary embolism is
often characterized by symptoms that can be vague or
easily confused for another condition. Symptoms include
dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, swelling in a leg,
and a rapid or irregular heartbeat.
“The number of pulmonary emboli (PE) that we’re seeing
at Allegheny Health Network is on the rise. We saw
over 2,500 cases of acute PE just at Allegheny General
Hospital alone last year,” said Raymond Benza, MD,
Medical Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension and
Thromboendarterectomy Program at AGH. “Developing
integrated approaches like this to treat increasingly
prevalent diseases is very important for improving patient
outcomes and overall quality of care.”
Added Srinivas Murali, MD, Director of AHN’s
Cardiovascular Institute, “With the PERT, physicians from
various medical and surgical disciplines, bringing different
perspectives and areas of expertise to the table, are quickly
able to collaborate and develop an agreed-upon pathway
of care, then gather the resources required to execute that
treatment plan efficiently, thus achieving the best patient
outcomes.”
Bringing state-of-the-art concussion
assessment technology to regional
EMS providers
As part of its commitment to bringing leading-edge concussion
management services to its communities, Allegheny Health Network
is equipping and training regional Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
professionals in the use of advanced mobile concussion assessment
technology.
Through this program, participating EMS providers receive the iPadbased C3 Logix concussion assessment system, along with instruction in
conducting baseline testing.
Results of baseline assessments performed when a patient is well will be
compared with tests performed after a suspected concussion to assist
physicians in making a diagnosis and developing a treatment plan.
C3 Logix is currently being used by 11 EMS providers, with plans to
expand the program in the future. AHN is the sole provider of C3 Logix
testing in the 29 counties of western Pennsylvania.
AHN athletic trainers offer baseline testing with the system to all
19 school districts that receive athletic training services through the
AHN Sports Medicine’s scholastic program. The system is also being
used at Robert Morris University and by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds
professional soccer team.
Allegheny General Hospital • 320 East North Avenue • Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Contact us at AHN.org or call 412.DOCTORS (412.362.8677)