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Protecting Your Heart
A New Way to Close Holes in the HeartBethlehem woman is active again after nonsurgical CardioSeal procedureMargaret Parrish was going through her usual routine one morning in May of 2000 when, as she describes it, “my leg gave out.” Undaunted, the 58-year-old Bethlehem woman drove to work—but once there, began feeling disoriented. “Something’s wrong,” she remembers thinking.Something was indeed wrong: Margaret Parrish was having a stroke. The cause, though she didn’t know it at the time, was a defect she had had since birth—a hole and a pocket in the septum (divider) between the two atria, or upper chambers, of her heart. Such holes can lead to strokes by allowing blood clots to pass out of the heart into the bloodstream. The problem afflicts an estimated 150,000 Americans each year. Looking back, Parrish realizes that “I was like a time bomb.” Until now, the only options for people with this defect were open heart surgery or lifelong anticoagulant medication—neither of which is risk-free. Parrish started on the medication and was scheduled for surgery. Then her cardiologist, Bryan Kluck, D.O., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, offered her an alternative— a new procedure called CardioSeal. The CardioSeal device is a set of two tiny umbrella-like metal frames attached to medical-grade fabric. It’s folded into a special catheter, which is inserted in a vein and moved into the hole in the heart so the septum lies between the two sides of the umbrella. When the device is released, the umbrellas open on either side and cover the hole. Eventually, new tissue grows into the implant. It sounded good to Parrish as she discussed her options with a team of physicians including her internist, David Caccese, M.D., Kluck and Michael Sinclair, M.D. “Margaret was an excellent candidate for CardioSeal because she was relatively young,” Kluck says. “It was clear that the heart defect required repair; she had already suffered a stroke and was on anticoagulants. But rather than having surgery, she was able to choose this new option. The procedure worked perfectly.” Parrish was out of the hospital sooner than if she’d had open heart surgery, and there was no scarring. “Two days later I was at the pool,” she says. And today? “I feel fantastic! I’d recommend the procedure to anyone.” CardioSeal is still a relatively new procedure; Kluck is the first in the region to offer this approach to repairing holes in the heart. “It is a good example of progress in medical science,” he says. “I advise people to check with their doctor regularly about their treatments. Something that wasn’t possible a year ago may have become possible today.” Want to Know More about recognizing a stroke? For a refrigerator magnet listing the symptoms, call 610-402-CARE. This page last updated 3/30/08 03:34 PM
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