HASTINGS — The Mary Lanning Healthcare Heart Catheterization Lab has been chosen to share its outcomes on a national level in October.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the National Cardiovascular Registry Data (NCRD) have chosen MLH’s information to be featured in a poster presentation during its virtual ACC Quality Summit on October 8-9. Karen Woodward, RN, MHA, Cath Lab Data Analyst; Regina Anderson, RN, Cath Lab Manager, and Abhi Basoor, MD, FACC, Cath Lab Medical Director and Interventional Cardiologist, contributed to the presentation.
Woodward and Anderson said they see the summit as a great way to showcase the MLH Cath Lab, its physicians and its excellence. While collecting data, Woodward and Anderson realized that MLH is 29.85% higher than other cath labs in the nation for performing radial (vs. femoral) heart catheterizations.
Radial access (which means the procedure is performed through the wrist) has proven to have fewer complications than femoral access (which means the procedure is performed through the femoral artery in the patient’s groin).
Dr. Basoor, Interventional Cardiologist with Bryan Heart Mary Lanning Cardiology, said that despite several research studies showing the superiority and benefits of radial access compared to the femoral approach, physicians are not using this approach for heart catheterization and percutaneous coronary intervention (stent) procedures often enough. Based on the MLH study, only about half of these procedures nationwide are being done through radial approach. At MLH, more than 80% of such procedures are radial.
“I feel as a result of more radial procedures at MLH we had fewer major complication rate (1.08% compared to 2.27% for similar-sized hospitals in U.S. and 2.33% for entire U.S. Registry data)” Dr. Basoor said.
“Radial approach not only decreases complications but also has been shown to have better survival rate and less risk of death from these procedures compared to femoral approach,” Dr. Basoor said.
“There’s a decreased risk of bleeding complications,” Anderson said. “The femoral artery is larger and there is a lot more area where blood can flow.”
Dr. Basoor and Woodward said a radial access procedure usually results in less time in the hospital for the patient, which translates into better patient satisfaction. The femoral access procedure is mostly used now for patients who’ve had a heart bypass surgery in the past, Woodward said.
Anderson and Woodward agreed that all of the physicians — from Bryan Heart and Nebraska Heart Institute — using the MLH Cath Lab have been using radial access as much as possible. Patients who have had radial access in the past tend to ask for it again.
“Dr. Basoor is an excellent teacher,” Anderson said. “He came here in 2014 with a high proficiency in radial procedures. He has really high expectations and a real tight lid on quality.”
Woodward said the goal of the poster presentation is not only to show proficiency and outcomes but also encouragement that radial access can be done in smaller hospitals and is best for patients.