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Cardiologists Ronnier Aviles, MD;
Ed Kim, MD; and
Jeffrey Fowler, MD |
Blogging
about
the Heart of the Matter
When health issues arise, many of us turn to the
Internet for some quick research. A recent Harris
Interactive Survey showed that in 2009, 67 percent
of U.S. adults—154 million people—reported
having searched for health information online,
up from 34 percent in 1999. With this in mind,
Dr. Aviles, Dr. Fowler and Dr. Kim recently started
a cardiac blog to help people get answers to their
heart health concerns.
“I’ve long had the ability to communicate
with patients while they are in the clinic with
me,” says Dr. Fowler. “Now I’m
able to maintain that communication and reach out
to an even broader audience outside the clinic to
help them better understand cardiac issues.”
The physicians answer queries as simple as what
causes heart palpitations to more complex questions
about medical breakthroughs.
The goal is to take the mystery out of cardiac
care and provide people with access to highly trained
and knowledgeable doctors. For instance, if a loved
one living out of state just got a pacemaker, you
probably wouldn’t call his or her doctor
with a laundry list of questions. The cardiologists’ blog
is an ideal place to submit questions and get answers
to issues that affect a lot of people.
“This is a great opportunity to inform our
community of recent advances in cardiology, to
add perspective to media headlines and to review
important topics relevant to our patients,” adds
Dr. Aviles.
“There is so much information online, and
it is difficult to navigate,” adds Dr. Kim. “Hopefully
we can act as a filter and a reliable source of
good information for patients.”
Blogging about the latest trials, studies and medical
breakthroughs gives Overlake’s cardiologists
an outlet to share information and spark discussions.
They encourage people to submit questions and join
the conversation.
“I expect some patients will likely prefer
to be observers who look at what’s being
written and the questions asked,” says Dr.
Kim. “Others, we hope, are going to be very
active participants. I think everybody is going
to benefit regardless of how they use it.”
Read the cardiologists’ blog here.
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Overlake’s heart experts utilize the latest innovations
to deliver sophisticated cardiac care.
Cardiologists today have far more tools at their disposal to diagnose
and treat a wide range of heart conditions. Compared with just a decade
ago, technology plays an integral role in how physicians interact with
and care for their patients.
“These innovations are important because while none of our technologies
is perfect at this point, each new advance offers more treatment options
for our patients,” explains Ed Kim, MD, of Eastside Cardiology
Associates.
Nonsurgical Alternatives to Treating Heart
Disease
Surgery
has a clear role in treating patients with heart disease, but in selected
cases newer, minimally invasive alternatives have proved to be just
as beneficial to patients. “Cardiac conditions that
in the past required open heart surgery can now be performed safely
using catheter-based procedures,” explains Ronnier Aviles, MD,
a cardiologist with Overlake Internal Medicine Associates. “In
cases where other health conditions make surgery too risky, we now
have alternative treatments for our patients.”
Dr. Aviles recently became the first physician at Overlake to repair
a hole in a patient’s heart, called an atrial septal defect,
using a catheter-based procedure (see sidebar). Compared with surgery,
this procedure results in less pain, reduced blood loss, and a much
faster recovery time with minimal or no impact on patients’ quality
of life.
“Another exciting technological advance that will be available
in the future is catheter-based heart valve repairs and replacements,” adds
Dr. Aviles. Valves are the one-way gates that allow blood to pass through
the heart. If heart valve disease is left untreated, it can lead to
heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest. “Being able to use a
cathether-based procedure to treat patients with advanced valve disease
who are not candidates for surgery is a significant advancement in
the field.”
Keeping Tabs on Patients’ Hearts
at all Times
Tremendous strides have also been made in the devices electrophysiologists
use to correct arrhythmias. Much like the Wi-Fi wireless signal people
use to connect to the Internet, doctors are using wireless defibrillators
and pacemakers to remotely monitor patients’ hearts. The devices
are now equipped with a small antenna that wirelessly sends a signal
to a communicator placed on a patient’s nightstand. Data is typically
transmitted in the middle of the night. If there is any malfunction
in the device or if any significant heart rhythms occur, the information
is e-mailed directly to the doctor.
“We program the device to signal the physician when the patient’s
heartbeat is irregular. We tell the communicator if it ever sees a
certain event, we want to know about it tomorrow,” says Jeffrey
Fowler, MD, an electrophysiologist with Bellevue Cardiology. “Compare
that to just one year ago, when we would see our patients every three
months in the clinic—we might find out during a patient visit
in April that something went wrong back in January. The wireless technology
lets us know about it the next day so we can take quick action if needed.”
Wireless monitoring also extends Overlake physicians’ reach beyond the
Eastside. “I have patients who go to the desert for the winter, and I say, ‘take
your communicator and we can still keep an eye on your heart,’” says
Dr. Fowler. “It also helps for people living east of the Cascades
because if the passes are closed in the winter due to snow, we can
still monitor their condition and communicate with the device.”
Immediate Access to Patient Information
Just as technology is improving patient care, it’s also improving the way
physicians keep track of patients’ medical histories. Electronic medical
records (EMRs) are digital files containing all of an individual’s
healthcare information.
“I am not in the office every day—I am at the hospital, I’m
in the car or I’m at home,” says Dr. Kim. “When a patient calls,
or another physician calls and asks me for a consultation about a specific patient,
I need immediate access to their medical records, and that’s
what EMR will provide us.”
Like many practices, Dr. Kim’s office is transitioning to an
EMR and will be up and running with the new system this summer. In
time, patients will also have Web access to their own medical records
to better track and monitor their health.
The Next Innovations
Whether it’s a new procedure used by interventional cardiologists or a
new device implanted by an electrophysiologist, members of Overlake’s
heart care team are keeping up with innovations in medical technology
and developing the necessary expertise that allows them to incorporate
new technologies into patient care.
For more information on the Cardiac Center at Overlake,
please visit here.
Overlake is recognized as a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care
by Premera Blue Cross
and Regence BlueShield and as a Center of Excellence by United HealthCare
and Aetna.
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Repairing
a Hole in the Heart
 Hillary
Caituiro Monge, an engineer at Microsoft, is inquisitive and
likes figuring out how things work. When he recently found
out he was born with a hole in the wall of his heart, a common
heart defect called an atrial septal defect (ASD), it was only
natural that he had a list of questions about the procedure
that would repair it.
The Redmond resident was the perfect candidate
for percutaneous (performed through the skin) transcatheter closure.
The device that plugs the hole is delivered by catheter, and
it consists of two metal wire mesh discs and a waist that fits
the precise size of the hole.
"When Dr. Aviles told me that I could have
either open-heart surgery or this new procedure, I completely
agreed with him that this was the way to go,” says Hillary.
Dr. Aviles made a small incision in Hillary’s
groin, inserted a tube (catheter) in a vein and carefully pushed
the closure device through the catheter and positioned it to
fill the hole in the heart. The procedure took less than an hour
to complete.
According to Dr. Aviles, this is an important innovation to be
able to close an ASD with this approach versus a surgical one.
Hillary was the first patient to undergo this procedure at Overlake.
“It was incredibly satisfying for me to walk
into Hillary’s room after the procedure and tell him and
his wife that the hole was corrected,” says Dr. Aviles.
Hillary is pleased, too. There was no discomfort
other than small, temporary bruising on his groin, and he was
back at work a week later.
“From an engineering perspective, it’s impressive
that we can develop these sophisticated tools to correct health
concerns,” he adds. “I am very grateful because this
allowed me to avoid major surgery and resume my normal activities
as if nothing ever happened.”
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