"Hole in Heart Surgery" Without A Scalpel at Washington Hospital Center
December 1, 2004
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HOLE IN HEART� SURGERY WITHOUT A SCALPEL
Atrial Septal Defect Fixed Using a Catheter
Washington, D.C.--November, 2004�Robert Friedli was born lucky. He had been walking around with a potentially fatal heart defect for 69 years without a single symptom. When Mr. Friedli was in his twenties, a doctor told him he had a heart murmur but not to worry about it. Forty years later, another doctor and a different diagnosis: Mr. Friedli had an atrial septal defect (ASD), a hole in the heart wall between the top two chambers in his heart, the most common congenital birth defect in the United States. Without repair, the defect would lead to heart failure or possibly stroke.
At first Mr. Friedli thought this repair would mean open heart surgery, but doctors at Washington Hospital Center fixed his heart without going into an operating room. Instead, Mr. Friedli had a minimally invasive procedure in the catheterization lab where an interventional cardiologist used a double disc device made of wire mesh and polyester fabric called an occluder to close the gap between the atria. The device was delivered to the heart via catheter using ultrasound and imaging equipment to guide the catheter to the ASD. It took 30 minutes for the procedure and Mr. Friedli went home the next day.
Dr. Lowell Satler, associate director of Interventional Cardiology at the Washington Hospital Center, said the advantage of the lesser invasive procedure is the lack of a need for general anesthesia, the lack of a need for opening a patient�s chest, and the speed of the recovery.
For Robert Friedli the ASD occluder procedure means he can continue his daily workouts lifting weights, taking his boat out on the Chesapeake Bay to fish and walking without worry. Now,� he said, I�m going to live to be 100�or more!�
Contact: Paula Faria
202-877-7594
paula.faria@medstar.net
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Last updated: 10-31-2005
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