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New York State has one of the highest death rates for heart disease yet one of the best survival outcome rates for heart surgery compared to other states. How can this be? Heart surgery simply is not available to everyone in New York who needs it, particularly in rural areas. Bassett is fulfilling its mission of making heart surgery available and more easily accessible to people in our region.
Our heart care team experienced in Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has completed years of advanced education and training. With the right balance of experience and leading edge technology, these heart care professionals work in partnership to provide the very best in patient care. Our team consists of professionals who have been with Bassett Healthcare for decades and those who have recently joined us, which provides the best complement of approaches, ideas and knowledge. Combined, our heart surgeons have performed thousands of successful surgeries.
What is the Bassett Heart Care Institute?
Bassett's team of experienced cardiologists have offered consultative, diagnostic, and treatment services, including cardiac catheterization, for decades. In March 2003, the heart care team at Bassett expanded to begin offering angioplasty and cardiac surgery. As of July 2005, over 420 angioplasty/stenting procedures and over 275 open heart operations had been performed at Bassett. Along with the thousands of patients who have benefitted from the full scope of services offered by Bassett's heart program--from heart disease screening, to pediatric diagnostic services, to preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation programs--Bassett has become a premier provider of cardiac care in rural upstate New York.
Why did Bassett add heart surgery and angioplasty to its patient services?
Cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology are services patients have come to expect at a state-of-the-art healthcare provider like Bassett. And for tens of thousands of adults in rural, central New York, Bassett's program means a much better chance of surviving a heart attack with the maximum possibility of recovery. Angioplasty should be done within 90 to 120 minutes of the onset of a heart attack and, if administered, is the single most effective procedure in saving the lives of heart attack victims. If a heart attack patient arrives in an emergency room at a hospital that does not offer it, precious time is lost.
Who will be served by Bassett's program?
Bassett's program brings interventional cardiology and heart surgery to 430,000 people in our eight-county service area, many of whom would otherwise have to travel an hour or more for such care. Bassett cardiologists see patients in Cooperstown, Herkimer, Oneonta, and Cobleskill. Plans are underway to extend these services to other Bassett health centers, and to establish Bassett cardiac rehabilitation centers in some. In keeping with its mission, Bassett now offers state-of-the-art cardiac services to a population of rural residents who would otherwise not have easy access to such care.
How many staff does it take to support the heart program?
The introduction of this program created approximately 45 to 50 positions, which has a positive economic impact on this region. Bassett's heart care team includes two cardiothoracic surgeons, two interventional cardiologists, five invasive and noninvasive cardiologists, one pediatric cardiologist, two cardiac anesthesiologists, physician assistant and nurse practitioner heart care specialists, and dozens of others from virtually every department involved in various aspects of the program.
What did it cost to create Bassett's heart program?
Bassett's cost to introduce the heart surgery program is $7.3 million, which represents a real investment in the region. The fifth floor addition to Bassett hospital and the modernization of our campus also support the heart program. The benefit of our investment is that people in our region will be healthier and will have better access to a complete heart program. So the cost of not having Bassett's program seems much greater.
How many surgeries and angioplasties will Bassett perform each year?
Based on the need in the area and past and projected statistics related to heart disease, we anticipate that our program will grow incrementally in the first few years, ultimately performing more than 300 cardiac surgeries annually. The situation is similar for the angioplasty program in which we anticipate an ultimate volume of approximately 500 procedures each year.
What is Open-Heart or Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery?
The Cardiac Surgeons at Bassett Hospital are skilled in the performance of coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or CABGs. These operations take arteries from the chest and arm, and veins from the legs to serve as new routes for blood to pass around cholesterol blockages (atherosclerotic deposits) in the heart vessels. The aim of this operation is to relieve the symptoms of coronary heart disease, which are commonly angina and shortness of breath. In addition to the traditional bypass operation that has been performed for years, the surgeons at Bassett bring several state-of-the-art advances to these procedures to make them safer yet just as effective for patients.
What is Beating-Heart or Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery?
The Division Head of Cardiac Surgery at Bassett has long-standing expertise in performing and teaching off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. This operation, also called beating-heart surgery, allows surgeons to perform coronary artery bypass grafts without placing patients on the heart-lung machine in order to avoid some of its side effects. Many studies have shown that by avoiding the heart-lung machine patients are less likely to need blood transfusions, spend less time on the breathing machine and in the intensive care unit after the operation, and even return home to their families sooner. Research has also shown a protective effect against strokes that occur in some heart surgery patients.
What is Angioplasty?
Angioplasty is balloon dilation of a coronary artery. The trigger for a heart attack is often a blood clot that has blocked the flow of blood through a coronary artery. Emergency angioplasty has been proven to be the single most effective procedure in saving the lives of heart attack victims.
What is Endoscopic Vein Harvesting?
To obtain leg veins needed to perform coronary artery bypass surgery, long incisions, sometimes extending from the groin to the ankle, have been routinely utilized. These incisions often produce more discomfort and disability for patients after surgery than the incisions in the chest. Cardiac Surgeons and Physician Assistants at Bassett use specialized instruments and tiny cameras that allow them to remove the vein safely through two or three very small incisions. The result is fewer infections, less pain, and less swelling in the legs after the operation is completed, which enables patients to be up and around faster and not be bothered by wound care problems once home. The incisions are also cosmetically more appealing.
What other services are available?
Bassett also offers heart valve repair and replacement, repair of septal defects (abnormal holes that develop between the chambers of the heart), removal of blood clots from the lungs, removal of cardiac tumors, and repair of aneurysms, dissections, and trauma to the thoracic aorta. To learn more about these procedures, visit www.bassett.org.
Bassett Hospital is a Level II Trauma Center, and with the institution of the heart surgery program, can treat victims of blunt trauma (including car accidents and falls) and penetrating trauma (knife and gun shot wounds.) The Cardiac Surgeons at Bassett are experienced in the emergency care of injuries to the heart and aorta, and are certified to teach the national course in Advanced Trauma Life Support. In addition, Bassett now has the capability to resuscitate and revive victims of hypothermia, or life-threatening exposure to the cold.
What education and wellness programs are offered?
Since 2001, Bassett's Community Heart Program has conducted more than 6,500 heart screenings to identify people at risk for heart disease and educate them about what they can do to improve their health. Program staff will continue to provide heart screenings and expand educational events with a focus on heart disease and obesity in 2005. | 
