
3 minute read
Teamwork and expertise mend woman's heart
COMPLEX PROCEDURE, TINY HOLE
By Connie Wirta
How
do you mend a broken heart?
For Carol Staples, it took open-heart surgery to replace two faulty valves and a second procedure to repair a tiny hole.
“My heart feels great,” says the 68-year-old Hibbing woman. “I don’t have to hold back. I feel like I can go anywhere.”
Last May, Carol had openheart surgery to replace two valves. While her surgery with Essentia Health Cardiothoracic Surgeon Christopher Heck was a success, her body’s ability to heal was hampered by other medical conditions.
“I felt tired all the time, and I couldn’t walk without getting winded,” Carol recalls. “I didn’t know what I could do.”
An ultrasound last September discovered a tiny hole had developed near Carol’s new mitral valve. It was leaking blood, shearing off red blood cells and putting too much pressure an upper chamber of her heart. She was suffering from fatigue, anemia and needed blood transfusions.
Carol’s rare diagnosis brought together a team of experts at the Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Heart & Vascular Center in Duluth. The meeting drew specialists from cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, anesthesiology, hematology, critical care and hospitalists.
“We take a team approach, and everyone works together to do what’s best for patients,” explains Dr.
Kalkidan Bishu, an Essentia Health interventional cardiologist. “We review every detail and discuss what we can do for each patient.”
In Carol’s case, the team decided that another openheart surgery was not the best option because the hole had developed as part of her healing process and could happen again. The next option, and what was determined the best option, was a complex procedure that Dr. Bishu had performed during training as an interventional cardiologist. He would use a minimally invasive procedure to insert three tiny metal mesh plugs to close the hole.
During the 2½-hour procedure in the cardiac catheterization lab, Dr. Bishu expertly guided a small catheter from a vein in Carol’s right thigh to the upper right chamber of her beating heart. Next, he pushed through the heart’s wall to reach the upper left chamber and the mitral valve. Then he carefully inserted the mesh plugs to close the hole and stop the damage. Throughout, he relied on real-time imaging from Dr. Kimberly Boddicker, a cardiologist.
While Dr. Bishu and other interventional cardiologists use similar techniques to place stents and do other heart repairs, it was the first time the local team had tried the more complex procedure that often is done only in the largest hospitals or academic settings.
“Our success with Carol illustrates the growing expertise of Essentia Health’s team here in Duluth,” says Dr. Michael Mollerus, the division chair for Heart & Vascular Services. “We’ve built a team that can provide comprehensive care short of a heart transplant. We work together to bring the best heart care close to home for our patients.”
Carol says she didn’t realize how unique her care was. “I felt like this was the best choice, and Dr. Bishu was so confident,” she says. “Once he explained it all, I just wanted to get it done. I knew Dr. Bishu had done the procedure before in Colorado, but they’d never done it here in Duluth. I found out how unusual the surgery was afterwards.”
Carol says she quickly began feeling better. “After the procedure, I was walking right away and walking farther than I had after my open-heart surgery,” she recalls.
Carol spent 15 days in the hospital after her open-heart surgery and then spent time in a rehabilitation center. She was hospitalized for three days after the catheterization procedure and went directly home. “A second open-heart surgery would have been more complex with even longer recovery,” Dr. Bishu says. “Her healing and recovery went very well, as the team expected when we recommended this course of treatment.”
Carol praised the care she received from the Heart & Vascular Center team, especially Dr. Bishu. “I’d trust Dr. Bishu in a minute,” she says. “He has a very good bedside manner and he’s really good at explaining everything. Doing a stent is nothing compared to what he did for me.”
To make an appointment with Dr. Kalkidan Bishu, or another member of the Essentia Health St. Mary’s- Heart & Vascular Center team, call (218) 7863443. D


Connie Wirta is an editor for Essentia Health. She wrote this for The Woman Today.
By Andrea Busche