Heart and Vascular Care - Primary Angioplasty
Is primary angioplasty a treatment for heart attack?
How is primary angioplasty performed?
Is Hunterdon Medical Center a leader in primary angioplasty?
Dirk Oceanak’s life-saving rescue at Hunterdon Healthcare Systems
Is primary angioplasty a treatment for heart attack?
Yes. Primary angioplasty is not only an emergency procedure done in the midst of a heart attack, it is the preferred treatment for heart attacks according to the American College of Cardiology.
Primary angioplasty enables cardiologists to not only see problems, but fix them.
How is primary angioplasty performed?
During primary angioplasty a balloon is inserted and inflated to open up the diseased artery causing the heart attack, leaving a wider opening for blood flow, which decreases heart damage.
A spring-like metal device called a stent is inserted to keep the artery open
Is Hunterdon Medical Center a leader in primary angioplasty?
Yes! Hunterdon Medical Center's “door to balloon” time (time from the Emergency Room to emergency angioplasty) is less than 60 minutes! The national goal is 90 minutes.
Dirk Oceanak’s Life-Saving Rescue
The life-saving and technologically advanced procedures being performed at Hunterdon Medical Center are the reason it is nationally renowned. Our preparation, teamwork, and quick response time in emergencies has helped save and improve lives.
The story of Dirk Oceanak is one that many people can relate to. Dirk used to be like many Americans: His cholesterol was a little high, he had a few extra pounds, and his work as owner of Best CPA Associates was stressful. But he never had any signs of heart trouble. Until he had a heart attack on the basketball court at the young age of 46.
January 16, 2008:
9:40 PM: 46-year-old Dirk Oceanak crashes to the floor while playing basketball with friends.
9:41 PM: Two of Dirk’s teammates, one of them Frank J. Sforza, MD, a family physician on staff at Hunterdon Medical Center, starts performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to restore blood flow and prevent permanent damage to Dirk’s heart.
9:42 PM: Other teammates sprint for the automated external defibrillator (AED) and call 911. Dr. Sforza uses the AED to shock Dirk’s heart back to a normal rhythm.
9:55 PM: Emergency medical services arrive and paramedics care for and monitor Dirk on the ride to the hospital.
10:10 PM: Dirk arrives at Hunterdon Medical Center, and due to the help of paramedics in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, it is confirmed that he has had a heart attack.
10:11 PM: The Cardiac Catheterization Lab staff prepares Dirk for angioplasty, an emergency procedure performed to keep clogged arteries open in the midst of a heart attack.
11:03 PM: Just 53 minutes after arriving in the Emergency Department, Andrey Espinoza, MD, opens Dirk’s blocked artery in the catheterization lab by inserting and expanding a tiny balloon at the site of the blockage. To help keep the artery open, Dr. Espinoza implanted a stent, a tiny metal mesh tube. The national goal for “door to balloon” time is 90 minutes. Hunterdon Medical Center has an average “door to balloon” time of less than 60 minutes.
Two weeks later: Dirk begins attending cardiac rehabilitation at Hunterdon Medical Center to learn how to safely transition into a new life filled with regular exercise, a healthier diet and a weight loss plan.
March 2008: Dirk returns to work.
Today: Dirk is maintaining his new, healthy lifestyle to ensure that he will be around for his wife and children. In his words, “Having a heart attack put my life in a different perspective. I realized that everything could change in five minutes.”