Seton Medical Center, through the research efforts of the San Francisco Heart Institute, is a pioneering center for increasing the accuracy and sensitivity of important diagnostic tests, developing, and evaluating of new procedures for treating cardiovascular disease, and testing new interventional devices and pharmacologic therapies.

Examples of Ground-Breaking Research conducted at Seton include:

• Pioneering center in the early development of coronary balloon angioplasty

• First center in the world to perform balloon angioplasty in multiple coronary arteries

• First Bay Area center to use the Rotablator, a device that rotates at high speed to pulverize calcified plaque deposits on the inside of coronary arteries

• First center in the USA to use laser technology to treat disease in the peripheral (legs) and coronary circulation

• First center in the world to utilize current laser technology to revive transmyocardial revascularization (TMR), a procedure abandoned in the early 1980s, which restores blood circulation to parts of the heart that cannot be treated with conventional coronary artery bypass surgery. This procedure includes a computer-controlled device that synchronizes the TMR laser with an EKG machine. The laser shoots holes through the damaged area of the outer heart muscle, via a small incision in the patient's rib cage, allowing oxygen-rich blood to perfuse through the holes from the inner heart chamber, thus nourishing the damaged heart tissue. This procedure is now approved by the FDA and shows promise for patients who are too ill for drug therapy, balloon angioplasty or bypass surgery.

• First center in the Bay Area to use radiation angioplasty (brachytherapy), a treatment utilizing radiation to slow down the proliferation of cell growth in the artery — this cell proliferation is the main process that results in the restenosis (closure) of stents that are placed in arteries to restore blood flow to the heart.

• Participation in clinical trials to evaluate new drug therapies and devices such as: monoclonal antibodies, anticoagulants, GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors. ACE inhibitors and thrombolytic agents as well as new devices including rotablator, brachytherapy, and drug coated stents.

Leaders in Cardiovascular Care
The physicians at the San Francisco Heart Institute are the leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area in the use of:

• Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery

• Minimal incision techniques used during replacement and repair of cardiac valves — these incisions in the chest are quite small and are preferable to a full sternotomy, in which the sternal bone is cut and the chest is forced open for access.

• Minimally invasive techniques to harvest veins from the leg that are used during coronary artery bypass surgery — these techniques eliminate the long incision that is standard for obtaining the vein.

• Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor — drugs that inhibit the formation of blood clots that can lead to heart attack and death during catheterization procedures.

• Stented grafts to treat aneurysms of the aorta (the major blood vessel leaving the heart) — these devices are inserted through an artery in the leg, thus avoiding a more dangerous open chest surgical procedure.

• New stent technology used in the catheterization laboratory

For more information about cardiac and vascular diseases, diagnostic services & treatment options, visit the San Francisco Heart Institute web page.

Leading center in the country in:

• Providing comprehensive services to cardiac surgical patients, including experts from the Northern California Diabetes Institute and the Wound Care Center

• Utilizing clinical data to track patients who have had cardiovascular procedures — this database has longitudinal follow-up on every patient treated in the catheterization laboratory and cardiac operating room at Seton, including the first patient who had coronary balloon angioplasty in the United States.

• The San Francisco Heart Institute is the home for The Journal of Invasive Cardiology, a leading journal in cardiovascular treatment and also the sponsoring organization for the International Andreas Gruentzig Society, an organization of cardiovascular healthcare professionals and industry representatives that promotes the development of innovations in cardiovascular treatment.

At Seton Medical Center, where Experience Counts^sm, we look forward to providing these services to you and your family with both care and compassion.