Subject: Re: Out Of Town Patients!
Forum: The Heart Forum

Topic Area: Angina

Hello,
I just wanted to inqiure about the chances of Cleveland Clinic For Hearts doing any surgery on an "Out-Of-Town" patient.

Brief case history:

I had CABG in 1988 (X-6) using the LIMA (Mammary) as one of the graphs, and now all but the mammary artery has completly occluded again. The test results from 2 weeks ago (ekg, stress thaium, pet scan, heart cath) showed what was expected with the occlusions. The cardiologist informed me that another CABG would not be in my best interest at this time, as for the vesseles needed to by bypassed were very small, and the mammary artery itself is clean & doing well. Even though it is the only supply of blood to the heart, the "Risk" of another CABG outway the possible benefits (according to the surgeon).
He did bring up the fact that the surgery could be done, but advised to wait until the angina was to bad to continue any exersion (which is the case now).
PTMR (percutaneous transluminal myocardial revascularization) i have read is practiced at Cleveland Clinic, and i am hoping to recieve this procedure from somewhere. I believe that i am a good candidate for the PTMR, along with the opinion of the cardiologist here in North Florida.
My hopes are to include the gene therapy injection (VEGF) combined with the PTMR in hopes of giving the outcome every chance availible for improvement.
The VEGF "Angiogensis" gene therapy i believe is still in the investigational stages, and with this i hope to be able to afford the surgery itself by enrolling in one of the trials for this procedure.

I know the phone number for the Cleveland Clinic, but i didn't want to bother them with this unless they do include patients from out of state.

Any help on this issue would greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
Don
RANGERDOOD@aol.com

In general patients can be from anywhere as long as they can participate in the regular scheduled follow-up. However PTMR and VEGEF are generally reserved for patients in whom there is no possibility of another surgery. If you are a candidate for surgery I would recommend trying that route first as it is an established method for curing angina. Your doctor can contact the surgery office here directly at (216) 444-9474. I would recommend Dr Lytle for a 3rd redo surgery. (there may be a several month wait for him) Dr. Lytle also does open chest PTMR. IF your doctor thinks surgery is not an option the person to contact about catheter PTMR is Dr Pat Whitlow at (216) 444- 1746. Best wishes.

I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.

If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.

Follow Ups:

• Out Of Town Patients! Ed 7/15/1999 (3)
  • Re: Out Of Town Patients! CCF CARDIO MD - CRC 7/19/1999 (2)
    • Out Of Town Patients! Ed 7/19/1999 (1)
      • Re: Out Of Town Patients! CCF CARDIO MD - CRC 7/20/1999 (0)

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