Health City Cayman Islands Debuts Novel Treatment For Lower Limb Circulation
Health City Cayman Islands, the Caribbean’s leading tertiary health care facility, has chalked up another first by treating two patients with peripheral vascular arterial disease (PVAD), a circulatory condition in which narrowed or occluded blood vessels reduce blood flow to the limbs.
Dr. Neeraj G. Shetty, Health City’s Consultant Vascular and Interventional Radiologist, reported that his team utilized a minimally invasive, endovascular, non-stenting technique to successfully treat two cases last month, the first time in the English-speaking Caribbean that this method was used for treating the health complication.
“One of these patients presented with claudication or muscle pain (pain in the leg on walking short distances) and the other with continuing pain even during rest due to reduced oxygen,” Dr. Shetty revealed, explaining the patient with a non-healing ulcer in the toe had an occluded popliteal artery that reduced blood flow and impacted the healing of the affected toe.
The Health City team successfully opened up these blocked arteries using a combination of an atherectomy device and medicated balloon angioplasty for treating PVAD in locations where most stent placements are not recommended, such as in arteries across the hip or knee joint. “One of the patients had a pain score of 8/10 before the procedure, which came down to 2/10 afterwards,” reported an ecstatic Dr. Shetty, who has worked in this field for more than a decade.
Since opening its doors in 2014, Health City has delivered many Caribbean “firsts” in medical, surgical, diagnostic, therapeutic and advanced care services, including areas such as robotic navigation for joint replacements; installation of artificial hearts or left ventricle assist devices (LVAD); transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR) or implantations (TAVI); minimally invasive clot extraction for strokes; and renal denervation for resistant hypertension.
Other innovative interventions include an advanced form of life support called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO); implantation of the first Cardiac Contractility Modulation (CCM) device for heart failure patients not responding adequately to medical therapy; surgery to correct Pentalogy of Cantrell (heart outside the chest); and arthroscopic Latarjet surgery using a unique technique to restore stability to the shoulder joint.
Earlier this year, Health City Cayman Islands introduced robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery utilizing the da Vinci X robotic system to perform a variety of minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries, and also acquired the Smith+Nephew INTELLIO Connected Tower Solution, packed with 4K technology, that enhances the view of surgical areas, particularly in orthopedic joint repair and replacement procedures.
Health City Cayman Islands is the vision of renowned Indian heart surgeon and humanitarian Dr. Devi Shetty.
For more information on services at Health City Cayman Islands visit: https://www.healthcitycaymanislands.com.
About Health City Cayman Islands
Health City Cayman Islands is a medically advanced tertiary care hospital located near High Rock in the district of East End in Grand Cayman. It features a unique model of health care, built with a focus on the patient and rooted in innovative business models that allow the delivery of high quality, affordable care. It is the largest hospital in the Caribbean to have earned the prestigious Gold Seal of Approval from Joint Commission International (JCI), the worldwide leader in accrediting the quality of health care. For more information visit, www.healthcitycaymanislands.com.