Swedish To Teach Heart Procedure

Sun., Aug. 21, 1994

From Staff

Swedish Medical Center has been chosen as a training site for a new heart procedure.

Swedish is one of 11 sites across the country where the Palmaz-Schatz stent procedure will be taught. The procedure involves placing a permanent tubular device into a blocked or narrowed artery to keep it open.

The Food and Drug Administration in May approved the method as a treatment for restenosis, a condition that occurs when cardiac arteries constrict after heart-bypass surgery.

Doctors and nurses from around the country will come to Swedish to learn the procedure, which should result in shorter hospital stays and lower medical costs, the hospital said Thursday.

Swedish Medical Center cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Werner has been a leader in the development of the Palmaz-Schatz stent, said Mark Funk, a spokesman for the hospital.

The first Palmaz-Schatz stent devices - named after Drs. Julio Palmaz and Richard Schatz - became available to physicians for commercial use last week, Funk said.

The first sessions of instruction at Swedish will begin Monday and end in December.

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