PRINCETON, West Virginia (WVVA) – Princeton Community Hospital has new technology to help patients with blocked arteries. The Shockwave Catheter allows doctors to perform heart catheterizations using a coronary balloon, which sends shock waves to clear blockages. Dr. Stephen Ward, director of interventional cardiology at Princeton Community Hospital, said the new technique is safer and has fewer complications than previously used procedures.It is hoped that the new device will keep patients in the area for treatment
“The beauty of this device is that it’s another thing in our arsenal that allows us to care for people locally rather than sending them to tertiary care centers for care, and it’s the same thing that they use in hospitals. Equipped with the same tertiary care centers as West Virginia University in Morgantown and Roanoke Memorial and Charleston Medical Center,” Ward.
The new technology was used for the first time on Wednesday and was highly praised by Kendra Murphy, lead nurse in cath lab
“The patient is doing really well, with a very calcified artery. We were able to use Shockwave on him, and for a while, and he had great results, sitting up after surgery, walking a few hours later, and on the same day Go home,” Murphy said.
Princeton Community Hospital expects the Shockwave catheter to be very useful in the future, using the device almost weekly, with a second use within a few weeks.
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