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Walla Walla, WA
Permit No. 44
888 Swift Blvd.
Richland, WA 99352
Learning
the Lingo
Balloon angioplasty:
A procedure
performed to help open narrowing
of the coronary arteries. This
procedure requires cardiac
catheterization and involves
passing a catheter with a balloon
into the artery. The balloon is then
blown up in the artery to eliminate
the narrow area.
Cardiac catheterization:
A
procedure used to diagnose and
treat cardiovascular conditions.
During cardiac catheterization, a
long thin tube called a catheter is
inserted in an artery or vein in the
groin, neck or arm and threaded
through blood vessels to the heart.
Some heart disease treatments,
such as coronary angioplasty,
also are done using cardiac
catheterization.
Percutaneous coronary
intervention
(PCI, formerly
known as angioplasty with stent):
A method of restoring blood flow
to the heart muscle by reopening
clogged arteries. This is often
done by inflating a tiny balloon
at the site of the blockage, and
sometimes putting in a stent to
hold the artery open. Experts agree
that when a patient is having an
acute heart attack, the quicker this
happens, the better. The longer
blood does not flow to the heart
muscle during heart attack, the
more likely there could be damage
to that muscle.
Open heart surgery:
Heart
surgery in which the rib cage is
spread open, the heart is stopped
and blood is detoured through
a heart-lung machine while a
heart valve or coronary artery is
surgically repaired.
Stent:
A small stainless
steel mesh tube, inserted after
angioplasty, which acts as a
scaffold to provide support inside
the coronary artery.
IN 2004,
the Society of Cardiovascular
Patient Care (formerly Society of
Chest Pain Centers) designated
Kadlec Regional Medical Center as an
Accredited Chest Pain Center — the
first in the Northwest and then the
second to be recertified in the western
United States. The Kadlec Chest Pain
Center is also PCI-certified, which
means it has the emergency ability
to treat acute cardiac events using
balloon angioplasty.
Recently, Kadlec was again
recertified as an Accredited Chest Pain
Center with PCI.
The rigorous accreditation process
evaluates the care surrounding the
treatment of patients who arrive at
a hospital with symptoms of a heart
attack.
To Kadlec patients, this means that
processes are in place that meet strict
criteria aimed at:
●
Reducing the time fromonset of
symptoms to diagnosis and treatment
●
Treating patients more quickly
during the critical window of time
when the integrity of the heart
muscle can be preserved
●
Monitoring patients when it is not
certain that they are having a heart
attack to ensure they are not sent
home too quickly or needlessly
admitted to the hospital
“With each accreditation cycle,
the Society of Cardiovascular Patient
Care ensures that Kadlec continues
to broaden our integration of care
and focus on continual process
improvement throughout each aspect
of care,” said Cass Bilodeau, Kadlec’s
director, Regional Clinical Relations
and Development, “and we are doing
just that. It starts with prevention of
heart disease and creating awareness
within our community, to calling 911
at immediate symptom onset, to the
highest level of heart care, including
heart surgery. The final course of
treatment includes setting each and
every patient up for a successful
recovery and way of life.”
Kadlec
Chest Pain
Center
receives important
reaccreditation
