HARLINGEN – When you suffer heart failure or a heart attack, there is a slight possibility that you may require further treat-ment of the heart after the episode. For some, the heart may be too weak to undergo further treat-ment. The good news is there’s a clinically ad-vanced device that is help-ing cardiologists offer you further treatment – by maintaining your heart in good condition while they further address heart problems. They are doing that with the help of the world’s smallest heart pump, the Impella® 2.5 Catheter, available at the nationally recognized and award-winning, Harlingen Medical Center.
The Impella® 2.5 Cathe-ter is considered a great clinical advancement for heart patients who have an immediate need for fur-ther cardiac care after suffering an episode, such as a heart attack.
“The Impella® 2.5 Catheter is benefitting heart patients by perform-ing the function of the heart muscle, allowing for further treatment, such as an angioplasty or stenting procedure to open blocked coronary arteries,” said Dr. Eduardo Flores, Cardiolo-gist at Harlingen Medical Center. “This highly ad-vanced device is helping us save lives by providing our patients the temporary cardiac support needed to ensure optimal care.”
The Impella® 2.5 Cathe-ter, the temporary cardiac support it offers, and the optimal care available, at The Cardiovascular Center at Harlingen Medical Center, will all be topics of conversation Thursday, February 11, 2016, when Dr. Flores hosts “The World’s Smallest Heart Pump” Doc Talk Lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the hospital’s Medical Office Building (MOB) Conference Room.
Harlingen Medical Cen-ter is hosting a month-long series of Doc Talk Lectures as they relate to heart-topics, in conjunc-tion with National Heart Month, this February. In addition to hosting the Doc Talk Lecture series, the hospital is also featur-ing valuable screenings at minimal costs. These screenings include the HeartSaver CT Scan and the Stroke Prevention Vascular Screening.
HeartSaver CT Scan
If you want to know whether you are at risk for a heart attack or heart failure, then you may want to invest 45-minutes of your time and have a HeartSaver CT Scan per-formed. This is a non-invasive screening that performed exclusively at the Harlingen Medical Center Imaging Center, located at 512 Victoria Lane, Suite 5, in Harlingen.
The HeartSaver CT Scan is the only one of its kind in Cameron County. It is considered to be one of the finest ultimate heart disease risk assessment tools available today. It can identify calcium or plaque build-up in the coronary arteries and it can disclose heart disease, at all stages, making it easier for your cardiologist to treat.
he HeartSaver CT Scan is a unique risk-assessment tool that only costs $50.00. If you would like to register for a Heart-Saver CT Scan, please contact the Scheduling Department at (956) 365-1839 to schedule your appointment.
Stroke Prevention Vas-cular Screening
The Stroke Prevention: Vascular Screening is a limited special engage-ment that will be offered during the month of Feb-ruary, again, in conjunc-tion with National Heart Month. The screening will allow allow our MRI Tech-nologists to perform a simple, but highly effective analysis on the Carotid Artery, Abdominal Aorta, and Peripheral Arteries. The analysis will help identify any issue that needs to be addressed, giving us the opportunity to care for the patient, in advance, before the issue develops into an urgent medical condition, or worse.
During the Stroke Pre-vention: Vascular Screen-ing, the technologist will first screen the carotid artery for buildup of fatty plaque. Left untreated, the fatty plaque may lead to a stroke, also known as a brain attack. A stroke occurs when plaque stops the flow of blood to the brain or when a blood vessel in or around the brain bursts.
The technologist will then screen the abdominal aorta. This will search the aortic artery for the pres-ence of an aneurysm, also known as an enlargement, which occurs when part of the artery wall weakens and widens abnormally, or balloons out. Left un-treated, a ruptured aneu-rysm may lead to instant death.
Finally, the technologist will screen the peripheral arteries for plaque buildup in the lower extremities (legs). Left untreated, plaque may lead to the development of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), also known as atheroscle-rosis. PAD is also known to cause and possibly more serious health complica-tions.
The Stroke Prevention: Vascular Screening is quick and easy. It is a non-invasive screening, which means it is completed by scanning the skin in the respective areas. All three vascular screenings are performed at the Radiol-ogy and Imaging Depart-ment at Harlingen Medical Center, located at 5501 S. Expressway 77 in Har-lingen. The cost of the vascular screening is a nominal $139.00.
To learn more about the Doc Talk Lecture, featur-ing Dr. Flores, the Heart-Saver CT Scan, or the Stroke Prevention: Vascu-lar Screening, please call the Business Development and Marketing Depart-ment at (956) 365-1848.
About the Cardiovascu-lar Center
The Cardiovascular Cen-ter at Harlingen Medical Center is paving the way for progressive treatment of patients from across South Texas, and beyond. We specialize in the diag-nosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our top-ranked heart team provides minimally-invasive diagnostic testing and treatment, as well as advanced cardiac and vascular interventions, such as angioplasty, stent-ing, cardiac ablation, open heart surgery, minimally invasive heart valve repair and replacement, and coronary artery bypass graft.
To learn more about this program and Harlingen Medical Center, log on to our website at www.harlingenmedicalcenter.com.
