Patients At Heart

ANGINA sufferers living in the Worthing area will benefit from a new service based at Worthing Hospital.

More than 400 patients a year will use the new mobile cardiac catheterisation unit, which will visit the hospital weekly.

The new service will improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering angina.

The special unit is fully equipped with the latest technology and staffed with a trained radiographer, cardiac technician and nurse, to assist the local cardiologists who will perform the procedures.

The unit will be based in the hospital car park. It will treat up to 10 patients on each weekly visit, especially benefiting those people who have, in the past, had to travel to Brighton or London.

The cardiac catheter (angiogram) procedure involves inserting a narrow tube into the artery in the groin and feeding the tube through the artery into the blood vessels that supply the heart.

A special contrast is then injected into the blood vessels. The movement of the contrast through the vessels is monitored, with X-ray showing up any blockages or narrowing. Any blockages can then be treated with medication or by other methods, sometimes at specialist centres.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Mark Signy said: The sooner we find out why someone has angina and start appropriate treatment, the better chance there is of the patient making a full recovery.

It is really good news that we have been successful in organising for the mobile unit to begin to provide this service at Worthing.

For the full story, see the Worthing Herald, October 18.