PATIENTS OF ST. ELIZABETH’S HOSPITAL AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS HEART INSTITUTE TO BENEFIT FROM INTRODUCTION OF ANGIOJET BLOOD CLOT REMOVER
BELLEVILLE, July 7, 1999 -- Patients of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville and the Southern Illinois Heart Institute will be the first in the St. Louis area to receive treatment with the AngioJet, a high-speed vessel cleaner that dissolves and removes life-threatening blood clots in seconds. The St. Elizabeth’s Cardiac Catheterization lab is the first St. Louis-area health care facility approved to use the device, which is made by Possis Medical of Minneapolis.
The AngioJet is now available for patients of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and the Southern Illinois Heart Institute, says Vladimir Sterkin, Director of Cardiac Services at St. Elizabeth’s.
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to introduce the AngioJet to heart patients in the St. Louis area," says Sterkin.
Sterkin says that about 50 percent of patients coming to St. Elizabeth’s with acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) are expected to qualify for treatment using the AngioJet. The AngioJet will be used in the care of five to eight percent of all heart patients at the hospital, including non-emergency and emergency cases requiring coronary angioplasty. The device also can be used for clots that sometimes form during kidney dialysis.
Cardiologists Daryl Jacobs, M.D., Anil Shah, M.D. and Atul Shah, M.D. will administer treatments using the AngioJet.
The technology for the AngioJet is similar to that used in industrial water jets, which pump water at three times the speed of sound through tiny nozzles, providing enough force to slice through concrete. Robert Dutcher, chief executive of Possis Medical, designed the AngioJet after years of experience in the cardiac medical device industry.
Unlike most industrial water jets, the AngioJet reverses the flow of fluid, producing suction that vacuums up the broken pieces of blood clots after blasting them apart. The process prevents clot remnants from traveling through the bloodstream and causing problems elsewhere in the body. Blood clots blocking cardiac arteries are the cause of heart attacks.
The AngioJet has been used to treat kidney dialysis patients since 1996 and recently received FDA approval for use with heart patients.
According to a cost-effectiveness study cited in the March 6, 1999 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine, the average annual cost of treating a patient with AngioJet is $28,268. However, the average cost with urokinase, a clot-busting drug, is $28,268. Lab costs, longer hospital stays and complications drive up the cost of treatment with the drug.
The Southern Illinois Heart Institute was formed in 1996 by St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and Belleville-based Cardiology Consultants Ltd. SIHI provides a full range of high-quality cardiovascular healthcare services, in easily accessible, "close to home" locations for southern Illinoisans. SIHI is a cooperative joint venture -- or exclusive partnership -- between St. Elizabeth’s and Cardiology Consultants.
SIHI physicians and hospital medical and administrative staff members work as a team, providing a seamless continuum of care for cardiac patients. Patients receive preventive and acute services under one administrative umbrella. Patients and non-patients can utilize SIHI’s extensive free or low-cost community education programs, including the 4,000-member SIHI Walking Program. For more information, call 1-800-676-SIHI (7444).
For More Information Contact:
Southern Illinois Heart Institute
211 South Third Street, Belleville, Il 62220
Tel: 1-800-676-SIHI (7444)
Internet: info@sihi.org
![[Home]](images/bhome.gif){kind=small}