(Waupun) Officials with SSM Health are shining a light on a new heart imaging technology through a health journey of a Waupun resident. With the HeartFlow Analysis physicians are provided a 3D, computer-based model of the heart’s arteries and their flow allowing them to virtually determine the severity of blockages.
HeartFlow helps to determine which patients would benefit from stents versus medications alone, giving the care team the capacity to determine a personalized approach to each patient’s treatment plan. Having experience a previous heart attack, Steve Winterhack says he kept having some odd minor cardiac episodes including shortness of breath and very light chest discomfort.
After learning of HeartFlow, the 62-year-old meet with an SSM Health cardiologist and they agreed that someone with his medical history should have the scan. The test found three more blockages that Winterhack did not know he had.
“I was real impressed by the results…I wasn’t happy with the results cause they did find some blockages that were happening with me from those tests,” says Winterhack. “But I was also glad that I had that test done because I don’t want to wait until I have another heart attack to have something done…to have a stent put in. So, they did find some blockages, not to the point where I needed a stent put in or anything but they would have detected that if it was that blocked.”
Winterhack says the discovery led to a medication change that slows disease progression and improves his chances at a long healthy life. SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac Region also recently earned the HeartFlow Quality Award for excellence in coronary CT imaging.
