INDIANAPOLIS – The St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana is the first in the state to implant a patient with the HeartNet Ventricular Support System, and one of 40 sites in the U.S. and Canada to participate in the Peerless Heart Failure Trial.
The HeartNet procedure is a surgical option for patients with heart failure and enlarged hearts. An enlarged heart can form once ventricles become oversized due to lack of blood circulation throughout the body. Heart failure can be life limiting and cause patients to experience symptoms of dizziness, tiredness and shortness of breath. According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 5.7 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 670,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
The minimally-invasive surgery aims to provide support to the walls of the heart’s lower chambers. A 2-3 inch incision is made on the left chest wall between the ribs to access the heart, and an elastic support device is implanted over the ventricles during actual heart beats without the assistance of a bypass machine. The elastic restraint gently squeezes the ventricles to help reduce work of the heart muscle, preventing progression of the enlarged heart and lessening the effects of heart failure.
Patients eligible to receive the advanced procedure must enroll in the Peerless Heart Failure Trial, and complete an extensive process that involves screenings, exercises and function tests. The St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana was selected as a site for the trial due to the expertise and research knowledge of Mary Norine Walsh, MD, medical director of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation, and Christopher Salerno, MD, surgical director of the Cardiac Transplantation Program.
The HeartNet device has been implanted in more than 130 patients across the U.S. and Canada, and on average, patients have experienced improvement in exercise capacity and quality of life. Left ventricular volumes have also reported to decrease by 8-10 percent, and patients have experienced fewer symptoms associated with heart failure.
Recently, the St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana was recognized as the first in the state to earn the Disease-Specific Care Certification for Heart Failure from The Joint Commission, the nation’s premier healthcare accreditation entity. The highly regarded heart program received the prestigious honor in recognition of the multidisciplinary team of clinical professionals at the dedicated Heart Failure Unit.
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St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana
St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana (SVHCI) is a joint venture between St.Vincent Health and the physicians and surgeons of The Care Group, LLC and CorVasc MD's P.C., and opened as the first freestanding heart hospital in the Indianapolis metro area in 2002. The 120-bed hospital specializes in interventional cardiology, cardiac catheterization, cardiac surgery, vascular medicine, thoracic procedures and transplants. SVHCI is home to the $99 Heart Scan of Indiana, 24/7 Heart Emergency Unit, the A-Fib Center of Excellence, the Congestive Heart Failure Center of Excellence, the Indiana Heart Attack Network and the Sleep Center of Indiana. The freestanding hospital is the only in the state to be named by HealthGrades as the best heart care in Indiana four years in a row and in the top 5 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. for overall cardiac services for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. It is also a Thomson/Solucient Top 100 Hospital for Cardiovascular Services, and an Accredited Chest Pain Center.
