MVH One of Only Five Ohio Hospitals Chosen to Introduce New Cardiac Procedure
Continuing our leadership role in fighting heart disease – our nation’s number one killer of both men and women – Miami Valley Hospital is the first hospital in the area to offer a new treatment for heart disease. Known as “cutting balloon” angioplasty, this treatment is an improvement on the inflatable balloons cardiologists commonly use to open blockages in coronary arteries.
“We are very pleased with the new cutting balloon,” says Tom Thorton, MD, medical director of cardiology at MVH.
Patients are pleased, too – patients like Huber Heights resident Harry Boltz. Following a cardiac catheterization, Boltz learned from Dr. Thorton that there was a 95 percent or greater blockage in his three main arteries – and in two of the large branch arteries feeding his heart.
“Dr. Thorton told me I had two options,” Boltz recalls. “I could undergo coronary bypass surgery (in which blood vessels in the chest or from the leg or arm are used to create detours around blocked arteries). “Or I could go for the new cutting balloon angioplasty.” Boltz chose the new procedure.
Released from the hospital one day after the procedure, Boltz was amazed at how quickly he recovered. In less than a week and a half after his follow-up visit, Boltz was back at work. “Without that new technology, I don’t know where I’d be today,” Boltz says. “I’m just thankful my family doctor referred me to Miami Valley Hospital.”