04 THE KNOW
FEATURE STORY 05
Day in
the Life
Professor Mamas Mamas: Behind the Scrubs
P
rofessor of Cardiology Mamas Mamas
welcomed the Communications Team
to the Royal Stoke University
Hospital recently to take a look behind the
scenes of his clinical role.
He explains that he spends every Monday
in the catheterisation laboratories where
he undertakes angiography procedures in
which a small tube (catheter) is inserted into
a patient’s coronary arteries and contrast
is injected to identify any blockages or
narrowings. These can be treated by means
of a metal tube called a stent. He will visit the
wards to discuss research studies involving
stents with patients and recruit those who
wish to take part.
Professor Mamas explains: “The first
procedures I do in a day are planned cases,
and then heart attack cases will come in.
I usually do about ten procedures a day,
some of which are emergency procedures
to unblock coronary arteries. We cover a
population of a million – so I’ll undertake
procedures on anyone that has a heart
attack within this group of people while
I’m on call.
“We treat a patient’s Coronary Artery
Disease with stents, a small expandable
mesh tube that hold arteries open. When
a patient’s coronary artery is blocked we
put a flexible tube into an artery from the
wrist and with X-ray guidance we pass it
through to the heart and take pictures to
see any narrowings of the artery and then
place the stent.”
Professor Mamas graduated from Oxford
University in 1991 and qualified as a
doctor in 2000. He started his career as a
cardiologist in 2004 at Manchester University
and completed his training as a Consultant
Interventional Cardiologist in 2012, before
joining Keele University in 2015 as Professor
of Cardiology.
Discussing his research, Professor Mamas
says: “My team has access to data from
all stent procedures in the UK since 2005
and we look at various factors to find best
practice, such as which artery you should
use to undertake these procedures.
“There has been a big debate about whether
cardiologists should go through the wrist
or the leg, so we analysed the procedures
and by going through the wrist it reduces
the risk of dying by up to a third, so this
research has changed practice. The study
also showed there was a big difference
across the UK in how this procedure was
carried out and about 250 lives have been
lost because some hospitals aren’t adopting
best practice.”
As well as saving lives Professor Mamas’
research also saves the NHS an estimated
£20 million a year by reducing complications,
after care costs, and avoiding immobilization
of patients.
As Medical Director for Keele’s Centre for
Prognosis Research, Professor Mamas also
represents the University at international
conferences to discuss ground-breaking
research and techniques, and sits on charity
grant distribution panels.