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Dr. Fernando Garzia, medical director of the cardiac surgery program at Beebe Medical Center and a member of the Christiana Care Cardiac Surgery Group, is the first cardiac surgeon on the Delmarva Peninsula to perform a coronary artery bypass graft surgery using an innovative imaging technology that helps surgeons confirm the surgery is successful. The technology also may help to avoid repeat heart surgery and reduce complications.
Traditionally, after bypass surgery, a cardiac surgeon makes an educated decision about whether new arteries are functioning properly. The new technology, called the SPY Intra-operative Imaging System (SPY System), enables cardiac surgeons to visually confirm the proper placement of the bypass grafts while the patient is still in the operating room.
Usually, surgeons are able to get only an image of the heart and whether the blood is flowing through the new vessels after the patient’s chest is closed and the patient is out of the operating room. Use of the SPY system also may reduce the number of patients who must return to the operating room for the revision of improperly functioning or potentially misplaced grafts.
SPY is the first and only fluorescent imaging system cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in coronary artery bypass surgery. Bypass surgery is the most common open-heart surgery in the country, with approximately 400,000 patients undergoing the procedure every year.
“This is exciting technology and improves safety margins. It is something that will become prevalent in the nation,” said Garzia. “We obtained this technology because we want to take a leadership role. We don’t want to be average. We want to be better.”
Garzia and other cardiac surgeons have been successfully using the technology at Beebe Medical Center since November. The SPY system uses a fluorescent imaging agent that is injected into the blood stream and emits light when stimulated by an infrared laser. The technique does not heat up heart tissue and does not pose any risk to the patient or staff in the operating room.
The injected agent lights up blood flowing through the veins and arteries in real time, and the camera captures live images of the heart. These images can be captured on a computer screen, saved and printed for medical reference.
Beebe Medical Center is one of a select group of medical institutions in the country using the new imaging system. Other institutions include Stanford University Medical Center, Methodist Hospital’s DeBakey Heart Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Mayo Clinic.
“People in our community should be proud of what Beebe has accomplished,” Garzia said. “Beebe is part of an elite group of medical centers that perform heart surgery, and is a medical center focused on bringing quality healthcare to our growing population.”
Beebe Medical Center’s Cardiac Surgery Program is in affiliation with Christiana Care Health System. Beebe Medical Center’s cardiac surgery program, as well as its interventional cardiac program, began in February. To date, more than 115 open-heart surgeries, more than 84 coronary artery bypass graft surgeries and 154 percutaneous coronary interventions have been performed. Open-heart surgeries include coronary artery bypass graft surgery, value repair and valve replacements. Percutaneous coronary interventions include balloon angioplasty and cardiac stent placements.
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