Florida Hospital Cardiac Cath Lab Staffed Around the Clock

Florida Hospital Becomes the Only Hospital in Central Florida to Staff Cardiac Catheterization Lab Around the Clock

Increased Hours Will Save Heart Muscle for Some Heart Attack Patients

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 15, 2008 - Fifty-nine-year-old Douglas Dychko knows that minutes matter when suffering a heart attack.  One early January morning, the Winter Springs husband and father had a heart attack.  He was flown from another hospital to Florida Hospital for emergency angioplasty, a procedure in which a balloon is used to open a blockage in a coronary (heart) artery narrowed by atherosclerosis to improve blood flow to the heart.  Within minutes of arriving at Florida Hospital, Dychko was in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, or cath lab, undergoing emergency angioplasty.  Because of the quick intervention, he had a full recovery.

Since heart attacks can strike at any time, in January, Florida Hospital became the only hospital in Central Florida to have a cardiac catheterization lab that is staffed around the clock.  Here physicians diagnose the type and extent of heart disease and can actually open clogged blood vessels without having to perform surgery. Balloon angioplasty -- one of the common procedures performed in the cath lab -- has dramatically improved the survival rate from heart attack over the past several years.  

Now, Florida Hospital Orlando will be the only hospital in Central Florida with an available in-house cath team in the cath lab 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Most hospitals in the United States have a cath lab team on call with a response time of 30 minutes.  But, even waiting an additional 30 minutes for emergency angioplasty can damage heart muscle, leading to a decreased quality of life for patients.

"As pacesetters in cardiac care, we are constantly looking for ways to develop and implement strategies to improve patient outcomes.  We know that time is heart muscle.  Patients often wait too long to come to the Emergency Department when suffering a heart attack.  At all seven Florida Hospital locations, we have a process in place to rapidly identify heart attack patients and get them the intervention they need stop their heart attack and save their life," said Danielle Johnson, RN, BSBM, assistant vice president of cardiovascular services at Florida Hospital.

Beginning in the emergency department, the team acts swiftly to diagnose the cause of a patient's chest pain. If a heart attack is confirmed, the patient is typically rushed to the cath lab. There, cardiologists and the cardiac cath lab team perform balloon angioplasty (or other catheter-based procedures) to restore blood flow to the heart muscle. Catheterization can also quickly identify the need for more dramatic interventions, such as emergency open-heart surgery.

For Dychko, the quick intervention prevented him from losing valuable heart muscle and preserved his quality of life.  "I am so glad to be back to living my normal everyday life!  I am so thankful to God and Florida Hospital for saving my life," said Dychko.

For more information, contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at 407-303-8217. 

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