Mike Savage, MD
Director
925 Chestnut Street
Mezzanine
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-955-7109
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory offers the regions widest variety of alternatives
to surgery for opening blocked coronary arteries. These techniques and technologies include:
- Balloon angioplasty
- Coronary artery stenting
- Excimer laser angioplasty
- Intracoronary ultrasound
- Rotational, directional and transluminal extraction arthrectomy
To help our patients, Jefferson Hospital's cardiologists and radiologists have pioneered some of the newest interventional
procedures, including:
- Drug-Coated Stents - Our interventional cardiologists implant these at the site of blockage in a coronary artery. Over the
course of a few weeks, the drug with which these stents are coated is gradually time-released to prevent re-narrowing (restenosis)
of the artery. In 2003, Jeff became one of the nations first hospitals to use coated stents to treat coronary blockage.
- Angioject Thrombectomy - This procedure utilizes a catheter to clear clotted bypass grafts of patients who have undergone
bypass surgery.
- Intracoronary Stents - These devices can clear even the smallest clogged vessels.
- Multielectrode Basket Catheterization - This procedure is used to repair heart problems in the lower chamber with ventricular
ablation.
- Brachytherapy - This is a low-dose radiation therapy to prevent restenosis, or reobstruction, of coronary arteries in patients
who have previously undergone balloon angioplasty. This procedure involves the temporary placement of a tiny radioactive source
via a catheter, inside the coronary artery. Following extensive and successful testing, the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
at Jeff, along with the Department of Radiation Oncology, was the first in the Delaware Valley to offer this procedure, which
was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
- Sealing of the Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) - The closing of a flap that can be present between the two upper chambers of the
heart (the right and left atria). The Cardiac Catherization Laboratory is conducting a clinical trial of a minimally invasive
procedure in which an interventional cardiologist threads, through an incision in the patient's right or left femoral vein
(located in the groin) and continuing to the PFO flap, a sheath that houses a small device that looks like a two-sided umbrella.
Once the device is in position, the cardiologist opens up the œumbrella on each side of the PFO and applies it like a clamshell
to seal the flap. This procedure may prove helpful in preventing recurrence of stroke in certain patients between the ages
of 20 and 55.
See what the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Jeff can do for you!
