Surviving a Heart Attack in Richmond

Baptist Health Richmond: Surviving a Heart Attack in Richmond

Baptist Health Richmond supports the treatment process for heart attacks before, during and after the attack. Learn more about the benefits of being treated locally.

Surviving a Heart Attack in Richmond HealthTalks Transcript

Larry Todd Breeding, MD, Interventional Cardiology:
Time is a critical factor when treating a heart attack and other medical conditions like a stroke. If you’re having symptoms that you even remotely suspect could be heart related, we urge you to call 911 as soon as possible, because every minute that you delay is another minute that heart muscle has died.

Ananth Kumar, MD, Interventional Cardiology:
Emergency services are the most important link in the chain of treatment. We work with each other before, during and after the heart attack has happened. They do an EKG, they actually transmit it to us, and they activate the cath lab right from the spot where they see the patient having a heart attack. We come in by the time they get in here and cut the amount of muscle lost because of the time saved here.

Dr. Breeding:
We very quickly perform a procedure called coronary angiogram, which is a dye test looking at the circulation to the heart arteries. Once we identify where the blocked artery is located, we then open that blocked artery with a balloon angioplasty procedure. It stretches the artery open in a way that it restores normal blood flow to the heart. By coming to Baptist Health Richmond for treatment of a heart attack, you can save 45 minutes of additional travel time, and that is time that can be spent salvaging heart muscle by virtue of the fact that you’re being treated at a closer location, in a more timely fashion.