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Show: September 5, 2010:
- Preventing Stroke During Surgery
- Ovulating Women Wear Clingy Clothes
- Babies Learn While Sleeping
- For Better Grades, Exercise
- Lice in Schools
- A Mentor for Budding Scientists
- View all topics for the week
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Preventing Stroke During Surgery
Host: Barbara Lewis
Interview: Marc Gerdisch, M.D., director of cardiothoracic surgery, St. Francis Heart Center
It goes without saying: if you’re having heart surgery, the last thing you want is to have a stroke on the operating table.
But it’s a real risk, particularly in older patients.
Recently, the FDA approved a new medical device and procedure that reduces that risk for patients undergoing heart surgery. It’s especially helpful for people with a common heart condition called atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart beat.
So far, the device known as an "AtriClip" is being used in just a few hospitals, including at St Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Indianapolis.
Today, Barbara Lewis chats with Dr. Marc Gerdisch, one of the first surgeons in the country to use the device. Dr. Gerdisch directs cardiothoracic surgery at St. Francis.
The full name of system Dr. Gerdisch describes is the "AtriClip Gillinov-Cosgrove Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion."
Additional Resources:
- Atrial fibrillation is a common condition. Read up on AF from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
- Get more info on the AtriClip and the procedure it's used in.
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