Here are four recent cardiology procedures that were the first-of-their-kind or the first in the state they were performed in, as reported by Becker's:
1. VA St. Louis Healthcare System's cardiology team performed the hospital's first implants of the new Watchman Flx Pro left atrial appendage closure device, led by Army veteran Michael Schaeffer, MD, director of the invasive cardiology program.
2. CentraCare-St. Cloud (Minn.) Hospital became the first facility in the state to perform a recently FDA-approved heart procedure. Christopher Leville, MD, and the entire vascular surgery team completed the percutaneous transmural arterial bypass using the Detour system by Endologix.
3. John deGraft-Johnson, MD, performed what is thought to be the first robotically assisted, minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Modesto, Calif.-based Doctors Medical Center using a da Vinci robot.
4. In July, Bernard Lim, MD, performed the first atrial fibrillation ablation procedure ever completed at Decatur (Ill.) Memorial Hospital. Previously, patients in the area would have to travel to Springfield, Ill., or another community for this procedure and follow-up care.