South Nassau offers primary angioplasty

If you are experiencing a heart attack, choosing the right hospital can be a matter of life and death. When you are having a heart attack blood can't flow to the heart, the first step is to increase flow. However, New York state regulations generally prohibit hospitals from performing angioplasty if they don't have an open-heart program meaning that the hospital can only administer clot-busting medicines."The problem with clot-dissolving medicines is they don't work all the time," Jerome Zisfein, MD, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at South Nassau Communities Hospital. This means that patients then must be transferred to a hospital that performs primary angioplasty, which prior to South Nassau's performing this procedure meant a delay of a precious 20-25 minutes.A study published in last week's New England Journal of Medicine suggests that getting to a hospital that performs primary angioplasty may be more important than getting to the nearest hospital for patients experiencing a heart attack. South Nassau was the first community hospital in New York State and the only one on the south shore of Nassau County to offer primary angioplasty in the absence of a full open-heart surgery program.South Nassau's Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, where coronary angioplasty is performed, is one of the most advanced on Long Island. It was one of the first on the Island to offer transradial angiography, a minimally invasive procedure used for coronary investigation and intervention. In this procedure, the catheter is inserted into an artery in the wrist. In results in less bleeding and a shorter recovery time.For additional information on South Nassau's primary coronary angioplasty capability, call 1-877-South-Nassau.

Coping with pain

Samuel Thampi, MD, from the Department of Anesthesia/Pain Management at Franklin Hospital Medical Center, will host a lecture, "Coping with Pain: New Treatments." The lecture will be held on Monday, September 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the hospital's Shankman Auditorium, located at 900 Franklin Avenue, Valley Stream.For more information or to register, contact the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System's Department of Professional and Public Health Education at 465-2500.

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