Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center Information

Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center is the only area hospital to have received the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) certification to perform carotid artery stenting (CAS), which opens blocked arteries leading to the face and brain. Vascular surgeons Christopher Corey, MD, and Peter Augustinos, MD, who have performed about 40 carotid stenting procedures at Caritas Good Samaritan, say stenting benefits patients who are at high risk for the surgical procedure that has been the standard of care for blocked carotid arteries, carotid endarterectomy. The major risk from a clogged carotid artery is stroke, and symptoms of carotid artery blockage include transient ischemic attacks, that is, neurological problems that last less than 24 hours, non-disabling stroke and temporary blindness in one eye. While endarterectomy is an open surgical procedure, carotid stenting is a minimally invasive procedure. A catheter holding a deflated balloon, stent and basket-like filter is inserted through an artery in the groin and threaded through blood vessels to the place where plaque has blocked the carotid artery. The balloon is inflated pushing the plaque against the artery wall and expanding the stent, which remains in the artery after the balloon has been deflated and removed. The filter prevents any debris from flowing to the brain. "Carotid stenting has been performed successfully experimentally for about seven years," Dr. Corey says, "and has proven to be as effective as the open surgical procedure, so it's of great benefit to patients for whom endarterectomy would be too risky, such as those who have had the surgery before and have new blockages, have recently had a heart attack or have congestive heart failure." To achieve CMS certification, Caritas Good Samaritan had to have:High-quality x-ray imaging equipment, such as high resolution digital imaging systems;Device inventory, staffing and infrastructure to support a dedicated CAS program;Advanced physiologic monitoring systems and support staff;Readily available emergency management equipment and systems;A clearly delineated program for granting physicians CAS privileges and monitoring quality; andData collection procedures for all CAS procedures, routinely analyzed to ensure patient safety. Carotid stenting joins the already wide spectrum of open vascular surgery and minimally invasive vascular surgery procedures performed at Caritas Good Samaritan, such as surgical treatment for endovascular aortic aneurism, as well as stenting and atherectomy to treat blocked blood vessels in the legs. The hospital also has performed more than 300 diagnostic and non-interventional cardiac catheterization procedures since its cardiac catheterization lab opened last July. Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center is a 231-bed, acute-care hospital providing a full range of inpatient and outpatient treatment and serving Brockton and 22 neighboring communities. The hospital offers specialty care for diabetes, heart disease, obstetrics, substance abuse, occupational health and pain management, as well as general and specialty surgery and the latest diagnostic imaging services. A teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine, Caritas Good Samaritan is a member of Caritas Christi Health Care, the second largest health care system in New England.