The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of three institutions in New York State, and one of one hundred in the nation, selected to study the safety and effectiveness of an implantable cranial nerve stimulation device for heart failure patients with debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, and heart arrhythmias.
Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) is a common heart valve abnormality that affects up to 5 percent of the U.S. population. The mitral valve controls the flow of blood from the lungs to the main pumping chamber of the heart. MVP results from a degeneration of valve structure that leads to a regurgitation of blood backwards that can result in heart enlargement and weakening, as well as fatigue and shortness of breath.
What started as a casual observation among physicians almost a decade ago—that patients with HIV tend to develop hypertension and have a greater risk of heart attacks than the general population—has become a formal area of study and treatment within the Mount Sinai Health System.
Under the direction of Merle Myerson, MD, EdD, Director of the Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Roosevelt Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, and Director of the Cardiology Section of the Spencer Cox Center for Health, patients with HIV are being closely monitored and treated for heart disease and stroke. In fact, cardiovascular care has become increasingly critical to the overall health of HIV patients, as more of them live well into their 70s and 80s.
Interventional cardiologists at The Mount Sinai Hospital in October became the first in the world to use a new device to remove hard calcium buildup in a coronary artery in preparation for the placement of a stent to improve blood flow through the artery. The device, the Diamondback 360® Coronary Orbital Atherectomy System, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration one day before it was brought to Mount Sinai for use.
Since then, Mount Sinai’s cardiac catheterization team has performed more than 25 procedures under the leadership of Samin K. Sharma, MD, Director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Sharma says there have been no complications during or after the procedures.
As a cardiologist specializing in prevention of heart attack and stroke, you can imagine I try to practice what I preach. Some of this is easy and comes naturally to me. I was always athletic and competed in track and field while in college, which is one of the things that drew me to the study of medicine. But, like most people, I still have to work at maintaining certain healthy lifestyle choices. (more…)