"The faster you can offer treatment to heart attack patients, the better their chances of surviving," says Dr. V. C. Yadagani, Cardiologist at Uniontown Hospital. "With the introduction of angioplasty at Uniontown Hospital, we now have the potential to save hundreds of lives every year."
Dr. Raef Hajj-Ali, Uniontown Hospital Cardiologist, adds: "When people who show signs of a heart attack come to the hospital, we often perform a cardiac catheterization to determine where and how serious the blockage is. Now if angioplasty is necessary, we can perform it right then and there."
"Being able to perform angioplasty promptly can mean the difference between life and death," says Dr. Vadagani. "In the past, when we performed only diagnostic cardiac catheterizations, we had to transfer patients to Pittsburgh if they needed angioplasty. In Pittsburgh, the patient would have to go through the whole process all over again - which not only wasted precious time, but also was much harder on the individual.
"We find that 90-95% of the time, we can help the patient right here with angioplasty - usually in less than one hour of their arrival," states Dr. Yadagani.
"The risk of complication is small," remarks Dr. Hajj-Ali, "and the benefits of angioplasty are tremendous."
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