Vickie Williams’ life irrevocably changed one beautiful August day in 2004 when the 40-year-old single mother sat down to watch TV and chat with her mom. Suddenly, she stopped talking and her head slumped to her shoulder.
The sense of déjà vu was devastating. Ten years earlier, Vickie’s 26-year-old sister, Michelle, slumped over and died of heart disease, leaving two young children motherless. Surely Vickie’s daughter wouldn’t have to suffer the same fate.
“Mom started screaming and Dad came running into the room,” Vickie says. “My hands and toes were clenched to the point where they couldn’t open them. Dad couldn’t even open my mouth to do CPR. It took six minutes for the ambulance paramedics to restart my heart.” Even then, Vickie says, her heart was quivering like gelatin.
Vickie’s first six days at MCG Medical Center were spent in a coma. “The doctors and nurses didn’t hold out much hope. They thought that my brain had been oxygen-deprived to the extent that I would never wake and, if I did, I would be in a vegetative state,” Vickie says.
Her diagnosis was the same as her sister’s – arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeats that caused her heart to stop beating. But thanks to her treatment at MCG, her outcome was different.
A defibrillator was implanted during her 18-day hospitalization to normalize her heartbeat. Vickie was none the worst for wear except for memory problems.
“I didn’t recognize my daughter. For weeks afterward, I still couldn’t remember properly.”
Before treatment, Vickie’s arrhythmia had occasionally caused her heart to race so wildly that she felt on the verge of passing out. But the day that her heart stopped was eerily uneventful. “That day, I didn’t have any warning. No pain, except for a slight pain in my side.”
“Arrhythmias are the chief cause of sudden death and they affect millions of Americans. There are cutting-edge technologies currently in place for the treatment of heart arrhythmias and heart failure,” says Dr. Robert Sorrentino, who recently joined MCG as director of arrhythmia services in cardiovascular medicine after more than a decade at Duke University in one of the nation’s five leading heart programs. “Our goal is to continue to build the arrhythmia service so that we can offer a full-service program that includes specialized surgeries such as heart transplantation.”
Dr. Sorrentino oversees the specialized care needed for those with heart arrhythmia. He is particularly skilled in the use of heart devices such as Vickie’s implantable defibrillator and in the laser-guided removal of pacemaker leads. “These treatments are designed to give immediate support to heart failure patients and possibly stave off the need for heart transplants down the road,” Dr. Sorrentino says.
The use of implantable defibrillators to treat heart problems has grown
rapidly, according to Dr. Sorrentino. “For these ‘super-pacemakers,’ the
technology has developed far beyond their original purpose, which was to help
pace, or regulate, slow or irregular heart rhythms.”
The new implantable defibrillators are the size of a small pager and are implanted under the skin on the chest. Including a built-in pacemaker, the defibrillators monitor heart rhythms day and night and respond to life-threatening slow heart rhythms by pacing the heart to beat faster or by delivering an internal shock.
“These defibrillators have the ability to recognize arrhythmias in 10 seconds or less and are potentially lifesaving for those at high risk for heart rhythm abnormalities,” says Dr. Sorrentino. “More than 400,000 patients a year experience cardiac arrest and, if placed, these types of devices can save 95 percent of them.”
Implantable defibrillators are most commonly placed in high-risk patients to prevent cardiac arrest. For these individuals, medications are not very effective. According to Dr. Sorrentino, the defibrillators improve patients’ quality of life and have a dramatic effect on longevity. In addition, because of recent changes in Medicare policy, more patients can now benefit from implantable heart devices.
“I’m fine now,” Vickie says. “I’m still tired a lot, but I feel good. My implanted defibrillator hasn’t gone off yet, but I’m told that when it does, I should expect the type of jolt you get from a mule kicking you in the chest. But that’s a small price to pay to save my life should my heart ever stop again.”
If the device fails or is no longer needed, or in case of infection, Dr. Sorrentino can remove and replace wires without open-heart surgery. “The expected longevity of these leads is about 15 to 20 years,”
says Dr. Sorrentino. “In the old days, removing these wires was a problem due to a high probability of scar tissue that caused the wires to adhere to the blood vessels.”
He uses laser-guided lead removal to cut through scar tissue and simplify the procedure. The laser is the same type commonly used in eye surgery and is guided via a catheter into the heart. Special tools grasp the wire as the laser slices through scar tissue. The old lead is then removed and a new lead may be put in its place.
Dr. Sorrentino also is interested in biventricular pacing devices that treat heart failure. He also specializes in treating atrial fibrillation through pulmonary vein isolation, which involves the surgical removal of tissue near the pulmonary vein to regulate electrical heart impulses.
Dr. Sorrentino is one of many physicians who treat patients at the new MCG Cardiovascular Center, which opened in June at 1003 Chafee Avenue in Augusta. The facility is a prime example of patient- and family-centered care, having been designed with the input of patients and families. For example, the freestanding facility enables patients to be driven directly to a covered drop-off entrance. Ample parking is only a few steps away.
The approximately 8,500-square-foot facility includes an inviting reception area and spacious waiting room. “Through consultations with patients, our facility is designed to be a welcoming environment for patients,” says Dr. Guy Reed, chief of cardiology. “From the vaulted ceilings to the arched doorways, your first and last impressions are of comfort, relaxation and friendliness.”
The MCG Cardiovascular Center has 12 patient exam rooms and six specialty diagnostics areas – a Gamma camera room, an area for echo stress-testing, a vascular room, a treadmill area, an echo room and a room for a Holter monitor (portable electrocardiogram equipment).
A patient education area offers important information about preventing, diagnosing and treating various conditions.
“Patients will be very comfortable here,” Dr. Reed says. “More importantly, however, we can give patients in the CSRA the best and most comprehensive cardiovascular care.”
“Our ambition is to be the dominant force in cardiovascular care in the CSRA, and we’re working very hard to recruit the best and brightest physician-scientists from across the nation, to acquire the most state-of-the-art technology available and to build the most inviting facilities for the comfort and convenience of our patients and families,” says Don Snell, MCG Health, Inc. president and chief executive officer.
--Deborah Humphrey and Danielle Wong Moores