Newsletter January/February 2013
WVU Heart Institute
From all outward appearances, Geri Dino was the picture of health. In the blink of an eye, her heart health changed.
Geri had been living with an undiagnosed 20 percent blockage in one of her arteries. Suddenly, for reasons that are still unknown, that small blockage burst and became a life-threatening 90 percent obstruction.
Geri was treated immediately by WVU Healthcare physicians and has no lasting effects from her cardiac episode. Not all women in America are so lucky, though. In fact, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S., accounting for one of every three deaths each year. It is more deadly than all types of cancer combined.
Ninety percent of women have one or more of the risk factors for developing heart disease. Adopting healthy behaviors is an important step in fighting this disease.
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Stop smoking and avoid secondhand smoke. Even being around smoke can increase your risk.
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Keep track of your health numbers. Your blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight are important numbers to know and keep in a heart-healthy range.
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Eat smart. Avoid foods high in sodium and saturated fat.
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Get moving. Small increases in activity every day can make a difference.
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Team up with your personal physician. Your doctor can help you make the right lifestyle choices and, if needed, prescribe medications to help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
For more information on prevention and treatment of heart disease, visit wvuheart.com
Phone: 1-877-WVU-4HRT (1-877-988-4478)
600 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, Morgantown
Read Geri’s story.
The Heart Institute is operated by WVU Hospitals, a member of the West Virginia United Health System.
Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center
According to the Centers for Disease Control, injury is the leading cause of death in people ages 1-44 in the United States. That’s more than non-communicable and infectious diseases combined. At Ruby Memorial Hospital’s
Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center, we treat more than 3,000 patients each year, with about one-third having been injured in a car crash.
Driving can be tricky enough in wintry conditions. But if you add distractions such as talking on a cell phone or texting, you increase your risk of crashing by 23 times. Though we may take it for granted, driving is a complex task involving visual, manual, and cognitive focus. By using a cell phone while driving, we take 37 percent of our attention away from the road. While teens are the most likely age group to use a phone while driving, we must be sure to set a good example as adults. Buckling our seat belts, putting the phone away, and obeying the speed limit are all ways to stay safe and model safe driving behaviors.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
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Forty percent of American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone.
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In 2011, 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver.
Please don’t be a statistic. Stay safe and show others that
you care for their safety as well. Always wear your seatbelt
and put your phone away.
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Trauma nurses Josilyn Sanner, RN, CCRN and Holly Riley, RN, BSN, post safety tips weekly on our Facebook page.
Visit facebook.com/RubyMemorialHospital for past posts.
Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center is part of WVU Hospitals.
Wound Management Center
What types of wounds are treated at WVU Healthcare’s Wound Management Center?
Our multi-disciplinary wound team treats open sores, incisions, or wounds that won’t heal, especially those that have resisted other treatments.
Why are some wounds difficult to heal?
Diabetes, circulation problems, and vascular disease can cause wounds that resist typical treatment. Burns, ulcers, surgical incisions, and injuries also can develop into chronic wounds. An open wound can be a severe health risk, leading to life-threatening infection, so you don’t want to delay in seeking specialized treatment.
What treatment regimens are available at the Wound Management Center?
Our wound care center offers treatments that you may not know about. Advanced therapies such as skin substitutes, collagen dressings, and specialty wound and edema wraps are available at our center. We offer medical dressings that contain honey, specifically active Leptospermum honey from New Zealand, that has been shown to be effective in the management of chronic and acute wounds and burns. In addition, we offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
How does hyperbaric oxygen therapy help with wound treatment?
The patient breathes 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized chamber, which delivers 20 times the usual amount of oxygen to the blood stream and to injured tissues and organs. Increasing the patient’s blood-oxygen level accelerates the wound healing process. Some wounds that respond to hyperbaric oxygen therapy include bone infections, radiation injuries, diabetic foot and leg sores, and skin grafts and flaps. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be a part of an overall treatment plan that gives patients the most advanced wound healing therapies available.
The WVU Healthcare Wound Management Center is located at Cheat Lake Physicians.
Physician or self referrals are accepted.
For more information: 304-594-2480
The Wound Management Center is operated by WVU Hospitals.
Advanced Imaging PET/CT
WVU Healthcare is a leader in the region for advanced diagnostic imaging. Our center provides advanced technology to ensure the highest quality scans.
PET is a form of diagnostic imaging that evaluates the metabolism and function of cells. A CT provides detailed pictures of the body’s internal organs and structures via x-rays through the body. PET/CT Fusion integrates both technologies, allowing both anatomical and biological data to be obtained during a single exam.
PET/CT imaging is frequently used in the fields of cardiology, oncology, and neurology. WVU Healthcare’s PET/CT facility is accredited by the American College of Radiology in all three of these categories.
From the information provided from these scans, cardiologists can determine blood flow to the heart muscle and evaluate signs of coronary artery disease. They can also identify heart muscle that would benefit from procedures such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery. Cancer physicians can detect cancer via the use of a glucose-based radioactive injection that reveals diseased tissue. PET/CT can also assist cancer physicians in planning radiation therapy treatments. Scans can be performed in the same position that patients will receive their radiation treatment and will include the use of a respiratory device to track breathing. This allows for more accurate treatment planning for these patients. Neurologists are given the ability to evaluate patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, seizure disorders, and brain tumors. Use of the PET/CT scan can provide doctors in these fields with valuable “inside” information through advanced imaging.
A PET/CT image will always be interpreted by a certified specialist. These interpreted results will be passed to the referring physician through both written and electronic methods to ensure a timely report. PET/CT imaging must be ordered by a physician.
Your doctor can schedule your appointment by calling: 304-293-7521
A blood pressure reading indicates the pressure of blood upon the walls of the blood vessels. There are two numbers that are noted: a higher one (systolic) and a lower one (diastolic). The systolic pressure is measured when the heart contracts and pumps blood, while the diastolic one measures “resting” pressure just before the heart contracts.
Normal BP for adults is about 120/80. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is diagnosed when the reading is persistently higher than 140/90. Hypertension is a risk factor that can lead to conditions such as coronary heart disease, vascular disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease. However, for some patients, it is difficult to get an accurate blood pressure reading during a doctor’s office visit. A patient who actually doesn’t have hypertension but has “white-coat syndrome,” or anxiety about being in a medical setting, may give a high blood pressure reading.
Until now, it has been nearly impossible to medically determine the difference between hypertension and white- coat syndrome. Dr. Ali Mirza Onder, a nephrologist at WVU Healthcare, sponsors the 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) program. ABPM can help determine if a patient is truly hypertensive by providing 24-hour monitoring. Blood pressures recorded over a 24-hour period help provide a patient’s complete blood pressure profile – a more accurate and “true” reading than one done in the doctor’s office when a person is nervous or anxious. ABPM can also detect abnormal nighttime blood pressure, which is also a risk to your health.
Your WVU Healthcare physician can order ABPM for their patients via Merlin. Other referring physicians can write a prescription/order for ABPM which a patient can bring to the EKG lab on the 3rd floor of Ruby Memorial Hospital to be fitted for a monitor. All results will be sent back to the referring physician to discuss with you.
ABPM is the gold standard to both diagnose and monitor hypertension. An ambulatory blood pressure monitor is a small machine, about the size of a portable radio. You wear it on a belt. The blood pressure cuff on the monitor can be worn under your clothes without anyone seeing it.
Smokers concerned that their habit might have caused lung cancer now have a low-cost opportunity to find out. WVU Healthcare is offering a screening program to help catch lung cancer in its early stages.
Early detection of lung cancer is important because symptoms don’t usually show up until the cancer has advanced and is more difficult to treat. Early detection has shown a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer deaths in current and former smokers according to research studies.
For $99, we offer a CT scan, a one-on-one intervention session with a WVU smoking cessation counselor, and free services from the West Virginia Tobacco Quitline, including telephone counseling and nicotine replacement medications.
Eligible patients need to visit their primary care physician to obtain a referral and an order for the low-dose helical chest CT scan, which will be interpreted by a board-certified radiologist at WVU Healthcare. The primary care physician can order the scan and fax the request to 304-598-6375. The patient should call 1-855-WVU LUNG option 1 to schedule an appointment.
For more information: 855-WVU-LUNG
WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center earned high marks nationally from the publication, and was rated 74th in the country. The publication also cited our “much higher than expected” success rate as compared to other centers.
Cancer: 74th of 900 nationally-rated programs
Geriatrics, Gynecology, Orthopaedics, and Urology also ranked in the top 100 programs around the country.
WVU Hospitals is ranked #1 in the state of West Virginia by U.S. News & World Report. The national magazine lists WVU Hospitals as “high-performing” in 12 medical specialties.
These programs are operated by WVU Hospitals.