Advances in Care
Many heart patients choose a hospital that performs a high volume of emergency cardiac catheterizations, angioplasties, and stent placements, performed by skilled interventional cardiologists.
At Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, we have gained widespread recognition for safely performing rotational atherectomies, a challenging procedure used to clear the arteries of calcified lesions with a miniscule rotating blade, as well as other procedures such as balloon valvuloplasty and stent placement.
Not only do we have extensive clinical experience, but we are involved with a wide variety of research projects and are involved worldwide in sharing information and community outreach.
Sharing Knowledge Worldwide
Part of our mission is to share our knowledge and expertise with the rest of the world. To that end, The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, led Samin K. Sharma, MD, Director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology, and President of Mount Sinai Heart Network, sponsors a yearly symposium, attended by thousands of physicians both here and through live cases broadcast on video in real time.
In addition, we have created a website and iPhone app, Complex Coronary Live Cases, which streams live, narrated interventional procedures once a month in real time. The videos remain available to view for free indefinitely.
Community Outreach
Our highly experienced team is involved in a wide variety of community outreach programs in cardiology health:
- Left main stenting: We pioneered a technique that lowers the risk of complications, requires a shorter hospital stay, and offers a speedier recovery than coronary artery bypass surgery.
- Help for those who can’t undergo angioplasty: We are one of the first centers in the country to use the Impella® 2.5 Circulatory Support System, a ventricular-assist device designed for percutaneous placement in the catheterization lab. The Impella is becoming the gold standard for high-risk angioplasty cases.
- Drug-eluting stents: The Mount Sinai-led FREEDOM trial (Future REvascularization Evaluation in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: Optimal Management of Multivessel Disease) is the largest National Institutes of Health-sponsored trial in history. It compares the efficacy of drug-eluting stents with coronary artery surgery for patients with diabetes, who are at great risk for heart disease.
- Clot-inhibiting treatments: Our research has led to several promising new treatments to inhibit clotting in patients with heart disease.
- Anti-clotting medications: We have been a key participant in investigational trials of several anti-clotting medications, including the next-generation anti-platelet medication prasugrel.
- Plaque research: Our researchers are investigating the mechanisms that trigger the buildup of fatty plaque in the coronary arteries, which could lead to the development of new therapies to treat CAD.
- Genetics: Our Cardiovascular Genetics Program is working to identify the genetics of heart disease. Finding the genes associated with early risk of CAD means a greater chance of catching the disease before it has progressed to dangerous levels.
- Mobile screenings: We are responsible for screening approximately 8,000 asymptomatic patients in three U.S. cities. Our goal is to discover and develop cost-effective means to identify individuals who have undetected vascular disease and to deliver our imaging and diagnostic expertise across large populations at risk.
Involvement in State of the Art Research
Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital physicians have been involved in numerous investigator-initiated trials and multi-center trials in the field of coronary interventions. These efforts have resulted in Food and Drug Administration approval of many new drugs and devices. Currently, we are involved in a wide range of innovative research activities, including:
- Genomics of extreme trait coronary artery disease
- Ranexa versus placebo for chronic angina
- Lipid core plaque imaging
- Coronary stent evaluation for chronic total occlusion
- Treatment of complex bifurcation lesions with dedicated bifurcation stent (TRYTON Study)
- Renal denervation for hypertension (Simplicity Trial)
- Positron emissions tomography/magnetic resonance imaging/ultrasound imaging for multi-lesion coronary disease
- Prevention of contrast induced acute kidney injury by the Renal Guard system (US Pivotal Trial)
- Revascularization strategy (percutaneous coronary intervention vs. coronary artery bypass graft surgery) in patients with unprotected left main disease (EXCEL US Pivotal Trial)
- Treatment of severe superficial femoral artery stenosis with drug-coated balloons vs. standard balloon angioplasty