Life-Saving Heart Care at Jefferson
The great depth of expertise and resources at the Jefferson Advanced
Heart Failure and Transplant Center enable patients to have access to
the full spectrum of life-saving heart care, ranging from the least
invasive drug therapies to state-of-the-art surgery including
transplants.
Standard Therapy
- A
full array of diagnostic testing (including echocardiogram, VO2 stress
test and/or catheterization), medication adjustments, cardiac
rehabilitation and dietary and lifestyle-modification counseling
- Highly
skilled coronary angioplasty and drug-eluting stents to unblock and
prevent re-obstruction of arteries in patients with coronary artery
disease and poor heart function
- Electrophysiologic
options of biventricular pacing (also known as resynchronization, to
improve heart muscle function synchronizing contractions in both
ventricles, improving the heart's pumping power) and implantable
cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs, which are implanted in the patient
to stop life-threatening arrhythmias – abnormal heart rhythms, for
example) for your patients with worsening heart failure
- Intravenous
application of dobutamine, milrinone and nesiritide to increase cardiac
function and improve quality of life for patients with intractable
heart failure
- Percutaneous support devices, such as the Tandem Heart™ for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF)
Surgical Therapy
- Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for patients with cardiomyopathy due to coronary artery disease
- Coronary
artery bypass grafting and valvular repair and replacement in patients
with significant heart failure and poor heart function
- Implanted
mechanical heart pump or ventricular assist devices (including the
Jarvik 2000™ and HeartMate II), or as part of a research protocol,
ventricular remodeling surgery, along with valvular repair, to improve
cardiac function in patients with severe heart failure (as either a
bridge to transplant or, in patients for whom transplant is not an
option, a permanent pump). Jefferson is certified by the Joint
Commission for Ventricular Assist Device Destination Therapy.
- Transmyocardial
revascularization (TMR) by laser – a relatively new procedure not
available at most hospitals for some patients as an alternative or
adjunctive therapy to bypass surgery
- Heart transplantation, as determined by expert evaluation of those patients whom more conventional therapy has failed
Investigational Therapy
- Leading
research in multiple aspects of the cardiac disease process, including
ventricular remodeling, cardiopulmonary exercise, familial genetic
markers for cardiomyopathy and immunosuppression therapies
- Unique
and promising clinical trials – supported by the National Institutes of
Health; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the American
Heart Association; and the pharmaceutical industry – of new approaches
to detecting, understanding, treating and preventing heart failure,
including drugs and monitoring devices not commonly available, as well
as pharmacokinetic and genetic-screening studies
- Investigational
protocols – also supported by the National Institutes of Health; the
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the American Heart
Association; and the pharmaceutical industry – of the process in which
the immune systems of certain patients who can benefit from cardiac
transplants reject those transplants, and of treatments to prevent
rejection
- Percutaneous devices for support of patients with cardiogenic shock