Southeast Georgia Health System strives to deliver advanced technology to meet the healthcare needs of our community. Most recently, the Health System began offering a new treatment for patients with severely calcified coronary artery disease.
The condition occurs when calcium builds in the heart’s two primary arteries — the coronary arteries. It happens after plaque (fat and cholesterol) begins to form (atherosclerosis) after a number of years. It’s a more extreme form of cardiovascular disease that has become common.
“Of course, this isn’t the kind of calcium you drink or take in supplements,” said Dr. Matthew Certain said. “It’s something that occurs over time when plaque builds up in the arteries. It becomes hardened, almost like concrete or like bone. This can create severe blockages.”
As a board-certified interventional cardiologist with Southeast Georgia Physician Associates-Cardiology and a member of the Brunswick hospital’s medical staff, Certain is incredibly familiar with the condition. When patients require procedures to correct heart conditions, the calcium build up can pose its own problems.
“Traditionally, the way we would open these severe blockages to place a stent would be with a tool that is basically a drill. It’s called a rotoblader and you use that to drill out that hard calcium to get a stent in,” he said. “But that in itself can cause complications. When using a drill, there’s a potential to tear an artery, which can lead to heart rate problems.”
In addition to the rotoblader, another way surgeons previously dealt with calcified coronary artery disease is through bypass surgery. Both pathways have risks.
That’s why a new approach is so welcome by Certain and other cardiologists. It is an innovative technology and a novel application of lithotripsy. It uses sonic pressure waves, also known as shockwave energy.
“Sonic pressure waves have been used for decades to safely break up kidney stones and, in 2021, Intravascular Lithotripsy, or IVL, was approved by the FDA to be used to remove problematic calcium in a patient’s coronary arteries,” Certain said.
“Performed in the Cath Lab, IVL allows us to crack the calcium so that the artery can be safely expanded and a stent implanted to restore blood flow with minimal trauma to normal arterial tissue. In some cases, it can eliminate the need for open heart surgery.”
The technique is a less invasive mode for addressing the condition, and it’s welcome news for cardiologists and patients.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronary artery diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year — more than 600,000 of those deaths are in the United States. While only those with severe calcified conditions are in need of the new treatment, it opens the door to easier procedures for the 30% of patients who have problematic calcium.
“It’s exciting to be starting a new chapter in the treatment of heart disease in some of our most complex patient cases, and it certainly offers new hope to patients with cardiovascular disease,” said Certain. “The Health System’s leadership team, along with all the providers and team members, are committed to being our region’s health care provider of choice. Offering advanced procedures that are proven to improve patient outcomes is evidence of their dedication to high quality patient care.”
