A 10-member Norton Heart & Vascular Institute team remotely monitors heart patients’ implantable devices every day, looking for abnormalities that require immediate attention. The team also performs routine scheduled remote device checks. Patients with pacemakers, defibrillators and implantable loop recorders send alerts that are reviewed daily. Some of the monitors send patients’ signals automatically. Other patients…
ALIVECOR Tech-savvy patients eager to monitor their own heart rhythm can use a device that connects to a smartphone app. In 30 seconds, patients can record an electrocardiogram (EKG) on their smartphones using the Kardia app from AliveCor. Patients touch the record button and then place two fingers from each hand on small sensors positioned…
SUBCUTANEOUS IMPLANTABLE CARDIOVERTER-DEFIBRILLATOR A subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) is offered for patients at risk of sudden death from ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Unlike traditional defibrillators, the S-ICD does not have intracardiac, transvenous leads. The S-ICD is a small can that is placed under the armpit; a wire is tunneled under the skin next to the chest wall…
A variety of procedures are available for A-fib patients. CONVERGENT PROCEDURE Norton Heart & Vascular Institute offers a Convergent procedure for A-fib patients with longstanding, persistent symptoms who either are not suitable for ablation or have had unsuccessful ablations. A Convergent procedure combines epicardial and endocardial ablation. The procedure is performed in two stages. First,…
Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., has joined the University of Louisville Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and Norton Children’s Heart Institute at Norton Children’s Hospital as the new chief of the division of pediatric cardiac surgery. He will practice with UofL Physicians – Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Alsoufi comes to Louisville from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. “In Dr….
Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Resource Center offers free heart-healthy lifestyle consultations with a registered nurse to heart patients and their families. During the one-on-one consultation, a cardiac nurse will check the patient’s body mass index, blood pressure and waist circumference and will discuss nutrition, exercise, risk factors and signs and symptoms that might suggest…
The latest update of the atrial fibrillation (A-fib) guidelines from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society incorporated data regarding the novel anticoagulants (NOACs), updated the preferred risk assessment tool to the CHA2DS2-VASc score, and updated the data and recommendation level for A-fib ablation. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE UPDATED GUIDELINES…
Part of the five-year construction and renovation project at Norton Audubon Hospital has reached a significant milestone with the completion of a new tower. It opened in April and features 74 additional private patient rooms for intensive care, open heart and progressive cardiac care. Norton Healthcare is investing $125 million in the project, which focuses…
Norton Healthcare has established uniform protocols for the treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE). The move is intended to improve patient outcomes for the life-threatening condition that claims tens of thousands of lives each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Our goal was to create a systemwide approach with the same agreed-upon…
Norton Heart & Vascular Institute’s Peripheral Arterial Disease Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) Program is a new program available for patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. If you have a patient diagnosed with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), this program can be used after surgery, with your recommendation, to avoid further invasive treatment or as a means to…
A HEART MURMUR is the audible vibration of blood flow. Many children have murmurs; the types we hear most commonly vary depending on a child’s age. If we were to listen to the heart for someone’s entire childhood, we likely would hear a murmur in most children. Since only about 1 percent of children have…
No one watching Ethan Byler play on the swing set with his sister, Emily, would point to the toddler and say, “He had a heart transplant.” They wouldn’t know that Ethan was the first child in get a Berlin Heart. They’d never guess this external Benign chest pain inmechanical pump kept Ethan alive until he…