Thursday, April 12, 2018
The Cath Lab: Heartbeat of Marshfield Medical Center-Marshfield
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Wisconsin, accounting for more than two out of every 10 deaths statewide. Further complicating matters is the prevalence of controllable risk factors for heart disease such as hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, high stress and sedentary lifestyle. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, approximately 1.3 million adults in Wisconsin have hypertension. In central Wisconsin, that means no shortage of patients who need expert cardiology resources.
In addition to heart disease, our Cath Lab at Marshfield Medical Center-Marshfield can care for many other patient needs such as interventional radiology, and vascular and neurovascular intervention. MMC-Marshfield has been a certified Stroke Center since 2009.
Given the scope of services provided, the Cath Lab at MMC has grown and is now approaching an annual case volume of 6,000 patients.
Adding and improving cath lab services
That's why Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) has put renewed focus on updating our Marshfield Medical Center-Marshfield's CV Service Line and catheterization laboratory, commonly referred to as cath lab. The cath lab is an examination room with diagnostic fluoroscopic imaging equipment used to visualize the patient's anatomy and includes equipment for treating a variety of cardiovascular abnormalities.
Over the last eight months we have added or improved services at Marshfield:
- Started a pulmonary embolism program. This team can rapidly assess a patient who has had a blood clot that has traveled to the lung and takes measures to remove that clot.
- Re-initiated Watchman procedure, a left atrial appendage closure device, which is an alternative for patients who are intolerant of their anticoagulation regimen such as warfarin (Coumadin) that is commonly prescribed to prevent strokes in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation.
- Launched the CardioMEMS program, a heart failure monitoring system implanted in the pulmonary artery. Our Cath Lab team works closely with the Heart Failure Improvement Clinic team and these patients.
- Updated electrophysiology equipment with the latest technology to assist in a wide range of treatments for arrhythmia, including ablation.
Additional equipment upgrades are underway, including the refurbishing of a cath lab that is designed to be a state-of-the-art structural heart room. This room will support the existing TAVR structural heart program, which has done nearly 350 procedures and future program development in areas such as MitraClip, which can fix a leaking mitral valve, and Mitral Valve-in-Valve procedures that give our high risk patients an alternative to valve replacement surgery. To date, we have done close to 350 TAVR procedures.
Focused on health needs of our communities
"There's a growing need in our market for tertiary and quaternary services. This growth is a result of both our aging population and the advancements in technology," said David Kasun, manager, Marshfield Medical Center-Marshfield Cardiac Cath Lab.
"While we're expanding our services across Marshfield Clinic Health System as a whole, we're making changes in Marshfield that allow it to maintain its status as the premiere hospital in central and northern Wisconsin for cardiac treatment," Kasun said. "We want patients, as well as physicians from outside MCHS, to turn to us for our world-class expertise."
