By GREGORY ZELLER //
It’s been a hot summer for medical advancements across Long Island’s leading healthcare systems.
Already this season, Northwell Health and Catholic Health have introduced multimillion-dollar next-generation upgrades, with Northwell successfully completing the region’s first tricuspid valve repair procedure and Catholic Health cutting the ribbon on Mercy Hospital’s state-of-the-art Pre-Surgical Testing Suite.
Marking a quantum leap for patients with tricuspid valve regurgitation – which occurs when the heart’s tricuspid valve doesn’t close properly, allowing blood to flow backward from the right ventricle into the heart’s right atrium – Northwell surgeons successfully deployed their first commercial TriClip implant in June.
The minimally invasive procedure is designed to repair the regurgitation – which can cause breathing problems, fatigue, swelling in the abdomen and legs and, in severe cases, congestive heart failure – by guiding the implant to the faulty valve via a catheter inserted into the femoral vein, a large blood vessel in the thigh.
Bruce Rutkin: Game-changer.
An interventional echocardiologist (an advanced imaging specialist) works with the surgical team to get the TriClip where it needs to go.
“We come from the right atrium, cross the tricuspid valve, steer down into the right ventricle and then optimally position the TriClip to grasp the valve’s leaflets, restore their native position and reduce the degree of regurgitation,” said Bruce Rutkin, a structural interventional cardiologist at the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital, part of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
While the landmark first commercial procedure was performed just a few weeks after the TriClip procedure earned FDA approvals, Northwell surgeons are intimately familiar with the groundbreaking technology, the latest advance in what’s known as tricuspid-transcatheter edge-to-edge repair. The Northwell Cardiovascular Institute has been heavily involved in T-TEER testing, including participation in various clinical trials.
Rutkin noted that the Cardiovascular Institute has been “performing TEER with TriClip as part of clinical trials for several years,” though the first commercial case “marks a significant milestone” – most especially as an alternative for high-risk open-heart surgery candidates.
“We’re expanding access to this innovative treatment across our entire network,” the cardiologist said, with Bay Shore’s South Shore University Hospital and Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital – both of which boast extensive T-TEER clinical-trial experience – next in line.
“Providing high-risk patients with this advanced treatment is a game-changer,” Rutkin added. “Many of these patients had no other options, and now they can potentially benefit from this minimally invasive procedure that … has shown to be both safe and effective.”
Over in Rockville Centre, meanwhile, Catholic Health officials proudly introduced their cutting-edge, 3,300-square-foot PST Suite June 21. Located in the Catholic Health Ambulatory Building adjacent to Mercy Hospital, the new pre-surgical facility more than doubles the hospital’s PST space, which previously filled about 1,400 square feet in the main hospital building.
The $2.5 million suite features eight spacious exam rooms, a dedicated X-ray room and an array of new technologies. The expansion was funded by a $1 million grant from the New York City-based Mother Cabrini Health Foundation and funding from the 501(c)3 nonprofit Friends of Mercy Hospital, and represents “a welcome upgrade for our patients and our PST staff,” according to Danielle Henry, nurse manager for Mercy’s Ambulatory Surgery Service.
Cut to cure: Catholic Health officials welcome Mercy Hospital’s new Pre-Surgical Testing Suite.
“I am confident that the space – which is now larger, brighter and modern – will enhance our ability to continue to deliver high-quality, compassionate care,” Henry added.
Mercy Hospital Chief Operating Officer Ihab Ibrahim trumpeted “the culmination of two years of meticulous planning and design,” while Mercy Hospital President Joseph Manopella noted the new space is “full of opportunity.”
“It will not only allow us to elevate our patient experience, but meet the surgical demands deemed necessary by our community,” Manopella said in a statement. “All while providing a new convenient and modern location.”
