LMC’S CARDIAC PROGRAM CONTINUES TO EXPAND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LMC'S CARDIAC PROGRAM CONTINUES TO EXPAND
May Ellen and Gerald Ritter Cardiology Center receives approval to perform elective angioplasty completing its transition to a full service cardiac center

March 11, 2010, Brooklyn, New York…Lutheran Medical Center and its clinical partner in care, The Mount Sinai Medical Center have taken one more step forward, as the May Ellen and Gerald Ritter Cardiology Center has received approval to perform elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI or angioplasty).

The New York State designation now allows LMC to perform elective cardiac treatments that include a variety of procedures used to treat patients with diseased or narrowed coronary arteries (balloons and stents for example).

"The latest development, the approval to perform elective angioplasty, is the final step in providing Lutheran's patients and surrounding community the best of both worlds – the availability of the full spectrum of both diagnostic and interventional treatments," said Wendy Z. Goldstein, president and CEO, Lutheran HealthCare. "This new approval allows us to provide our patients with clinically advanced cardiac treatment modalities close to home and family."

Lutheran Medical Center and Mount Sinai have teamed up as clinical partners in cardiac care. This initiative is a multidisciplinary effort that brings together the expertise of Lutheran's own specialists and those of Mount Sinai. The close clinical partnership provides for a fully operational 24-hours-a-day lab that is staffed by cardiac experts trained in both emergency and elective treatments. In the event a patient needs immediate open-heart surgery or even a heart transplant, they can be quickly and seamlessly transitioned to Mount Sinai.

In 2005, Lutheran opened the catheterization laboratory to help patients detect heart disease with advanced diagnostic procedures and in 2009, the center received FDNY STEMI Center designation to perform emergency PCI. A designated STEMI Center, such as Lutheran's has been deemed qualified to treat STEMI heart attacks (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction), a particularly severe type of attack caused by a clot in one or more of the coronary arteries.

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