CTV Investigates: Cardiac Care

Part 1: Implantable defibrillator saves Waterloo man's life

A device slightly smaller than a hockey puck was the only thing that stood between Charles Cook and death.

It was 2007, and the then-36-year-old was living in Alabama.

An internal defibrillator had been installed in his chest several years previously due to a hereditary heart condition – but up to that point, it had only been an insurance policy of sorts.

All of a sudden, that changed.

“It was like somebody flipped a switch,” Cook tells CTV News.

“Technically I was dead for 24 seconds, and then the device zapped me and brought me back to life.”

Not long after that incident, Cook and his wife moved to Waterloo.

When his defibrillator’s battery started to fail earlier this year, Cook underwent a new procedure at St. Mary’s General Hospital – the installation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

“Going in knowing that they are basically putting a battery and jumper cables in your heart to get it started again if it stops is a little scary,” he says.

Dr. Claus Rinne, a cardiologist at St. Mary’s, says the implants are only offered to patients who have a significant risk of sudden death from heart racing.

“They are an engineering marvel,” he says.

“There is no question that these devices save lives.”

The units monitor every heartbeat and record information that can later be viewed by doctors.

Approximately 16,000 Canadians suffer fatal heart attacks each year.

Part 2: Marking 10 years of cardiac surgery in Kitchener

Stacey Brohman knew right away that something was wrong.

It was ten years ago, just days after the birth of her son, and she woke up with what she describes as “incredible” pain in her chest.

“It was a massive heart attack caused by coronary artery dissection,” she recalls.

“I was a healthy 30-year-old with a baby at home, and there was really no reason for me to be having a heart attack.”

An ambulance was quickly dispatched to take Brohman to St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, which had opened a cardiac care unit just weeks before.

“We knew that it was essential that we get her into the operating room and get her on the table, get her chest opened and get her on the heart lung machine,” says registered nurse Trish Futher, who began doing just that.

Dr. Clause Rinne was one of the unit’s original doctors – also the doctor who performed emergency surgery on Brohman.

He remains there to this day.

“The outcomes are binary – good or bad,” he says of cardiac procedures.

“There’s not much in-between.”

In Brohman’s case, surgeons found a torn artery – a rare condition that can afflict women shortly before or after they give birth.

“Her heart wasn’t able to pump blood to the rest her body to keep her alive on its own,” says Futher.

Rinne, Futher and their team got to work and were able to save Brohman’s life.

“It was a very heartening thing to have happen with someone who literally wouldn’t have survived,” says Rinne.

Brohman’s heart attack was one of the first tests for the St. Mary’s cardiac care unit, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, but hardly the last – since 2003, hospital cardiologists have performed more than 7,000 surgeries.

Part 3: Cardiac care unit keeps pace with advancing technology

It’s been 10 years since the cardiac care unit opened at St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, but that doesn’t mean doctors and nurses are using 10-year-old equipment.

That’s a lesson Cambridge resident Kathleen Boone learned firsthand this week, when she visited St. Mary’s to learn what was causing her to experience discomfort.

“I get pain after I walk around a bit, or go up and down stairs, or after I’m eating,” she said before being seen by a doctor.

At St. Mary’s, a cardiac team led by Dr. Brian McNamara examined Boone’s heart, finding a blocked artery.

McNamara says equipment like a new diagnostic camera help medical personnel to in turn help their patients.

“Imaging is everything in this field and the higher the resolution, the higher the quality of the image, (the) better decisions we can make for the patient,” he says.

With the diagnosis complete, the hospital’s cardiac team moved to install a stent to help eliminate the blockage.

“Everything feels good, and I feel great now,” Boone said after the procedure.

After Boone left, cardiologists were scheduled to see another 14 patients before their day was complete.

McNamara says the goal is always to see as many patients as possible, as soon as possible.

“Time is muscle, and the longer that a patient has to wait for advanced cardiovascular care, the high the risk that they could do damage to heart muscle,” he says.

Looking ahead, St. Mary’s officials say the hospital plans to continue staying abreast of the latest technologies and treatment options.

Another $1.5-million camera for the cardiac catheterization lab is planned, as well as ablation procedures which will control heart rhythms.