North Shore Medical Center FMC Campus Achieves New Status as Accredited Chest Pain Center with PCI

Lauderdale Lakes – North Shore Medical Center FMC Campus announces it has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. FMC Campus underwent a rigorous re-evaluation and refinement of heart care processes in order to integrate the industry’s best practices and newest paradigms into its cardiac services.

FMC Campus’s state-of- the- art heart care works seamlessly with the areas emergency medical services and the Heart Institute of Florida physicians and staff to ensure that the patients get the treatment they need during the critical early stages of a heart attack.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), commonly known as coronary angioplasty or simply angioplasty, is one therapeutic procedure used to treat the stenotic (narrowed) coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary heart disease (CABG is also used). These stenotic segments are due to the build-up of cholesterol-laden plaques that form due to atherosclerosis. PCI is usually performed by an interventional cardiologist.

In addition to elective PCI, certain types of heart attacks are also treated urgently with PCI to open a blocked artery. These types of heart attacks are commonly known as STEMI’s or ST elevated myocardial infarctions.

“People tend to wait when they think they might be having a heart attack,” said Ben A. Rodriguez, Chief Administrative Officer of FMC Campus. “It is critical for our hospital, as a accredited Chest Pain Center, to encourage those that we serve in the community to be aware of the early warning signs of a heart attack and to seek treatment of chest pain in its early stages.”

As an Accredited Chest Pain Center, FMC Campus ensures that patients who come to through its doors complaining of chest pain or discomfort are given immediate treatment necessary to avoid as much heart damage as possible. Protocol-based procedures developed by leading experts in cardiac care to reduce time to treatment in the critical earl stages of a heart attack are a part of North Shore Medical Center FMC Campus overall cardiac care services.