DGMC achieves milestone with new medical implant

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Austin Delacruz, Jr.
  • 60th Medical Operations Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Sedated but alert, retired Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Richard Pink is lying on his back in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at David Grant USAF Medical Center, watching an image of his own beating heart on a computer screen.

Around him, a cardiac catheterization team is busy conducting the final checks of their equipment, verifying availability of medical supplies and support staff before starting a brand new medical procedure; implanting the first wireless radiofrequency implantable cardioverter defibrillator in a DoD medical treatment facility.

The medical procedure is a major milestone for DGMC. It is the first hospital in the western region and one of only three medical centers in the continental United States to perform the implant.

Allegorically speaking, Mr. Pink's heart is the core of his emotional self. Clinically speaking, his heart is a blood-filled pump about the size of a clenched fist. Its rhythmic contractions and pulsations have kept him alive for 60 years, but Mr. Pink's heart had been failing. Potentially, it could go into abnormally fast heart rhythms, which could lead to sudden cardiac death at anytime.

Quite literally, Mr. Pink's heart was broken.

"'Broken heart' patients like Mr. Pink suffer many maladies like abnormal arrhythmias, valve leaks, heart muscle diseases or coronary artery blockages," explained Maj. (Dr.) Kyle Michaelis, chief of cardiology for the 60th Medical Operations Squadron. "These can lead to a heart attack and ultimately, heart failure."

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, killing 500,000 annually. Worldwide, it kills 7.2 million people every year. "The sad truth is, the incidence of heart disease is soaring," said Dr. Michaelis.

On Sept. 18, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the Current RF-ICD produced by device maker St. Jude Medical, Inc. of Sylmar, Calif. "The FDA approval brings this advanced technology to patients in the United States," explained Kathleen Janasz, media relations director for St. Jude Medical.

The Current RF-ICD is a wireless device used to treat patients with heart failure and with potentially lethal arrhythmias. It features radiofrequency telemetry for wand-less communication with programmers used by physicians to interrogate and program devices. RF telemetry enables secure, remote communication between the implanted device and the programmers in a clinician's office or hospital.
Wireless communication occurs while the device is being implanted and when patients see their physicians for follow-up visits, allowing more efficient, convenient care and device management.

Dr. Michaelis, in collaboration with John Cain, St. Jude Northern California regional sales representative and DGMC's cardiopulmonary laboratory staff arranged for the first implant of the Current RF-ICD in Mr. Pink on Nov. 6 in concert with St. Jude's official national launching of the device during the American Heart Association's Scientific Session 2007 conference.

The implant team consisted of Dr. Michaelis, assisted by Maj,. Charles Cox, 60th Surgical Operations Squadron cardiac catheterization nurse, and 60th MDOS cardiopulmonary laboratory technologists Tech. Sgt. Fred Maddox, Staff Sgt. Brynn Delano and Senior Airmen Maynard Galvez. The team's goal is to keep Mr. Pink's heart going for an indeterminate number of years to come.

"The Current RF-ICD is a safe, easy and cost-effective medical practice that benefits the patient, the provider, the MTF, the Air Force and the DOD in full spectrum," Dr. Michaelis said.

Dr. Michaelis singled out the article, "Airmen and the Art of Strategy" by General T. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, to emphasize his point; "We have to keep abreast of changes in technology, theory and practice. Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power. They encapsulate what the Air Force does for the nation. That applies to military medical practice and to our patients as well."

The Current RF-ICD procedure takes 45 minutes to accomplish at DGMC and patients are able to go home the following day.