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Crittenton Health and Wellness Information

Your Destination for Heart Health

What’s Your Risk?

Crittenton Cardiac Surgeon

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States. Determining your risk for the condition could save your life. While factors such as age, gender, and family history are out of your control, you can reduce or eliminate the following risk factors through lifestyle changes:

  • Diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • Lack of exercise
  • Obesity
  • Poor diet
  • Stress

Crittenton’s Cardiovascular Services, provided through the Shelton Heart Center, is one of the most comprehensive cardiovascular programs in the region and ranks in the top 10 percent nationally. From risk assessment and diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation following a cardiac event, our team of cardiovascular specialists makes caring for your heart a group effort.

A Full Spectrum of Services

Crittenton provides state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities so your physician can detect any problems and address them with you. Available tests include, but are not limited to:

  • Cardiac stress testing, which enables physicians to evaluate the heart’s function both at rest and during stress induced by medication or exercise
  • Echocardiography, the use of sound waves to produce a moving image of the heart to check heart and valve function
  • Coronary angiography, the use of medical-grade dye and X-ray images to check for blockages inside arteries

The all-inclusive Shelton Heart Center includes three catheterization labs, an electrophysiology lab, and a 10-bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. The catheterization labs allow Crittenton’s highly trained interventional cardiologists to perform a wide array of minimally invasive procedures—including cardiac catheterization, advanced angioplasty, and stenting techniques to unblock arteries and improve quality of life.

Door-to-Balloon in 52 Minutes

Cardiovascular interventional procedures can prevent heart attacks in the making. We have achieved a remarkable average door-to-balloon time (the time from presenting to the Emergency Department until the time a heart attack is stopped) of less than 52 minutes, when the national average is around 90 minutes. Services have expanded to include performing carotid stenting to prevent strokes, vascular atherectomy for peripheral arterial disease, and thrombectomy for management of acute deep venous thrombosis. These are some of the interventions available in our Cardiac Cath Lab Suites, where highly trained professionals provide the highest quality of care for our community.

World-Renowned Cardiovascular Surgeons

Should you need surgery, you can find both the expertise of surgeons who practice in an academic setting and the individualized attention associated with a community facility at Crittenton. Our partnership with the University of Michigan Health System means highly skilled and experienced surgeons are available around the clock to perform procedures such as coronary artery   bypass and valverepair and replacement. Following surgery, you can expect privacy and comfort in our Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. The dedicated unit allows you to be surrounded by staff experienced in treating patients who have undergone cardiac procedures and to remain in the same area throughout your stay. “Patients want to meet and feel comfortable with everyone involved in their care,” says Frank Fazzalari, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Crittenton and Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Michigan. “At Crittenton, you get the best of both worlds—high-quality care with a personalized touch.”

Frank Fazzalari









Frank Fazzalari, MD

     

For more information about heart care at Crittenton Hospital Medical Center, visit http://www.crittenton.com/Cardiovascular-Services

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