[ Business | US Market | Industry | IPO | S&P | International | PRNews | BizWire | Finance Home ]

Company Press Release

`Last Resort' New Heart Procedure Successful; 2 Cases Performed at Galichia Medical Group in Kansas

WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Joseph P. Galichia, cardiologist and founder-director of the Galichia Medical Group and Research Institute, Dr. Mark Bowles and Atlanta's Dr. Bill Knoff, have successfully performed two ``experimental'' cases of what's called ``PTMR'' which stands for Percutaneous Transluminal Myocardial Revascularization. It's a newly developed laser procedure. ``This is a procedure of 'last resort' for patients which have severe blood flow deficits to portions of their heart muscle in areas which are inoperable either with open heart surgery or commonly used balloon angioplasty procedures. These are areas which are deprived of oxygen often resulting in severe chest discomfort,'' Dr. Galichia explained.

Gary Posey, 56, had his first open heart surgery in 1974 after suffering a heart attack at age 32. The surgery was performed by Dr. Michael Debakey in Houston at a time when it was relatively new. Subsequently, Posey suffered two more heart attacks and each time had coronary bypass surgery. Posey then had numerous angioplasty balloon and stent procedures done by Dr. Galichia until this week when he successfully overcame his severe chest pain after the new ``PTMR'' procedure was performed.

``I really appreciate being considered for this new procedure,'' Posey said, ``and I'm grateful to God that this went well and I feel really good. It looked like the end of the road for me but I'm thankful to Dr. Galichia for not giving up on me because he gave me hope and without hope, you just don't have anything,'' Posey said. ``This morning, after the procedure, I got out of bed and washed my hair and as I was drying it I realized this was the first time in memory that I didn't have to take a 'nitro' to dry my hair.''

``The immediate success of this procedure is encouraging and we will be studying the long-term of PTMR and the use of this procedure in patients who are not so severely ill,'' Dr. Galichia concluded.

SOURCE: Galichia Medical Group

Help

---

Copyright © 1998 PRNewswire. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PRNewswire content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of PRNewswire. PRNewswire shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information.
Questions or Comments?