Monday, September 6, 2010

USA: Achievement- An Ahmadi Muslim heart surgeon is 1st in country to implant stabilizing device

Dr. Mubashir Mumtaz, chief of PinnacleHealth’s Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Department, performed two successful open-heart surgeries at Harrisburg Hospital on July 29. This was just a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the AtriClip as safe and effective...

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: PennLive.Com | Harrisburg, PA
By Body and Mind staff  | August 18, 2010

A surgeon at Harrisburg Hospital  became the first in the nation to implant a newly approved medical device called an AtriClip, designed to stabilize an irregular heartbeat.

Dr. Mubashir Mumtaz, chief of PinnacleHealth’s Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Department, performed two successful open-heart surgeries at Harrisburg Hospital on July 29. This was just a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the AtriClip as safe and effective for treating patients with atrial fibrillation, one of the most common heart arrhythmias.

Atrial fibrillation is estimated to affect more than 2.2 million Americans, or about 1 percent of the population. “A-fib” or “AF” can come and go, or linger stubbornly, leading to a quick, chaotic heartbeat that can be fatal if left untreated.

The danger of A-fib lies within the uncoordinated and incomplete pumping of blood through the heart. When the top chambers of the heart quiver like a pulled heartstring instead of beating like a drum, blood does not flow through the heart completely and cleanly, Mumtaz said. The leftover blood tends to pool inside a thumb-sized, rough-terrained sac within the upper heart and can clot. If a blood clot would break off, travel through the arteries and lodge in the brain, it can trigger debilitating and even deadly strokes.


“The consequences of strokes can be disastrous,” Mumtaz said. They range from speech impairment, paralysis and cognitive difficulties to death.

About 15 percent of all strokes occur in patients with atrial fibrillation.

The revolutionary rectangular device is easy to use, Mumtaz said. His two patients “are doing well,” Mumtaz said, “with no major issues or problems.”

One patient, Ruth Burkett, 82, of Shippensburg, was discharged just five days after the surgery. The clip has made a noticeable difference, she said. This former seamstress, a mother of four, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of three, said, “Before, my heart was very loud. It beat really hard. Now, it’s calmed way down.”

She used a blood-thinner and might still need to continue that treatment. She was “surprised” to be considered for the new clip, but glad she could participate. Of Mumtaz, she said, “I can tell you this — he’s a wonderful surgeon.”

“It is sort of exciting,” Mumtaz said. “I am very optimistic” about the new clip, which he predicts will be very beneficial to patients.

Before this clip was unveiled, patients with A-fib were often given the drug Coumadin, an anticoagulant. But the prescription blood-thinner was only 67 percent effective in reducing strokes, Mumtaz said. Coumadin also has an array of side effects that can include unusual bleeding and bruising and severe hemorrhaging in organs and tissues.

In cases where surgery was needed, A-fib patients of the past had their left atrial appendages either sutured or stapled.

Mumtaz said other medical device companies are developing cutting-edge tools to curb atrial fibrillation through a plug inserted within the heart. The danger of such a procedure, Mumtaz said, is that, ironically, the plug can cause clot formation, rendering the cure potentially as dangerous as the condition. Not only is it risky, but it requires a much longer recovery time, with four to six weeks of total rest required, he said.

But with the AtriClip, by clipping the pouch next to the heart’s left atrium from the outside of the organ, not within, only the patient’s tissue remains inside the heart chambers, eliminating the risks associated with “foreign material,” Mumtaz said.

The AtriClip is pioneered by AtriCure, an Ohio-based company, and was first introduced in Zurich, Switzerland, in October. Further studies will be conducted to compare patents using the various treatments, Mumtaz said.


Read original post here: Achievement- Ahmadi Muslim heart surgeon is 1st in country to implant stabilizing device

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.

Top read stories during last 7 days

Disclaimer!

THE TIMES OF AHMAD is NOT an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites. Times of Ahmad is an independently run and privately managed news / contents archival website; and does not claim to speak for or represent the official views of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Times of Ahmad assumes full responsibility for the contents of its web pages. The views expressed by the authors and sources of the news archives do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Times of Ahmad. All rights associated with any contents archived / stored on this website remain the property of the original owners.