It’s easy to get excited about new technologies—like the Shockwave Javelin Peripheral IVL Catheter, which TUH-Main Campus was the first in Philadelphia to use for a commercial procedure—without taking the time to understand why they matter to patients.
But it’s the latter that’s most important—and at Temple Health, we’re leading the way in these advances because we’re committed to providing the very best outcomes.
“When we first learned about the Javelin, I knew we had to have it as soon as possible, because it could benefit so many of our patients,” says David Cridland, BSN, RN, Manager of the Cardiac Catheterization/Electrophysiology Lab at Temple University Hospital.
“This device is revolutionary, especially for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD),” explains Kevin Walker, Shockwave Pharmaceuticals’ Philadelphia Territory Manager. PAD is the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs, reducing blood flow.
“The Javelin allows physicians to cross into blood vessels that are heavily calcified and break those lesions apart,” Walker continues. “Those vessels are so narrow that balloon catheters weren’t able to fit inside them, so these kinds of cases had limited treatment options, and had a higher chance of leading to poor outcomes—until now.”
One of the most common PAD complications is amputation of the leg with the affected vessel(s). “That has a major impact on a patient’s quality of life, and can also be life-threatening in itself,” Walker says. “On a national level, people who have a limb amputated have around a 60% mortality rate within the next five years.”
That’s an especially critical number for our patient population, as the zip code around TUH-Main Campus is #1 in Pennsylvania for below-the-knee amputations. For us, the Javelin means preventing amputations and saving our community members’ lives—and that makes all the difference.
A Fast Turnaround for a “Home Run” Case
That’s why Cridland knew he had to have the platform as soon as he saw it—and why he mobilized our teams to start the acquisition process (with Cardiovascular Department Secretary Camara Dillette leading the effort). Within two months, he had his hands on the Javelin: a turnaround time so fast it’s almost unheard of. He credits the lack of organizational red tape, and Temple Health’s commitment to fast-tracking projects we know will make the most impact.
Our first case was successfully performed on May 5th by Vladimir Lakhter, DO, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. “It was a home run,” Walker says.
It was also a chance for our physicians to use their skills to showcase the multiple ways to utilize the device. “Dr. Lakhter’s patient was suffering from claudication, which is limb pain caused by lack of blood flow,” explains Walker. “He used the Javelin to treat the one really tight lesion that was preventing access to the other lesions, so once that had been broken down, the balloon devices could be introduced.”
“In one of the cases we’ve done since, the Javelin was used as the primary tool,” Walker continues. “So it can either be the heavy lifter, or help the heavy lifter get where it needs to be.”
The Highest Quality with the Lowest Risk
Regardless of how the Javelin is used, it’s another way we’re setting ourselves apart by utilizing the latest technology to make a real impact on patients’ lives.
Cridland, for his part, credits our all-star team—including Dr. Lakhter, Dillette, Cardiac Cath Technologist Annmarie Brooks, and Cath Lab nurses Charly Matthew, RN and Priya Chowatia, RN—for the success.
“They’re really the ones that made this happen,” he says. “For us, it’s all about patient safety and quality of care. We want to deliver the highest quality with the lowest risk, because we owe it to our patients.”