Flying to St. Francis for the Best in Cardiac Care

Ralph Simon, of Cleveland, Ohio, says the choice for him was obvious. So the 74-year old retired teacher immediately boarded a plane for New York to receive top notch cardiac care at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center.

For years, Ralph had suffered from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition affecting the heart’s left ventricle—the main pumping chamber of the heart—degrading its ability to take in or pump out enough blood to supply the body’s needs. Ralph was challenged by swelling in his legs and a good deal of discomfort. HCM can lead to serious health conditions, including heart failure and stroke. 

His treatment options closer to his home in Ohio seemed limited to alcohol ablation or open heart surgery. Then Ralph did some research and learned of an innovative, minimally invasive option available at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center in Long Island. Dr. Jaffar Khan, Director of Interventional Electro-Surgery at St. Francis, helped pioneer the break-through option in 2021.

“Cleveland doesn’t have a Dr. Khan!,” said Ralph, “So I packed my bags and headed to the airport.”

Ralph received what’s known as the SESAME procedure, used to open up the heart’s left ventricle for better outflow. SESAME is a non-invasive trans catheter treatment that uses advanced techniques and specialized imaging to repair a patient’s heart. The procedure was developed by Dr. Khan and his colleagues at the NIH and Emory University. St Francis Hospital is currently one of three hospitals in the world able to offer SESAME to patients.

“This is one of the most promising novel therapies in cardiology,” said Dr. Khan. “Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often have obstruction to blood flowing out of the heart because their heart muscle becomes too thick, which can cause heart failure. Surgery to thin the muscle has been the gold standard treatment. We can now mimic what cardiac surgeons do but entirely through catheters, without opening the chest, and we can do it with great precision.”

Dr. Khan credits the interventional imaging team at St. Francis Hospital for the positive outcomes. “They are amazing and the key to the success of this unique therapy, because they show us exactly how much heart muscle we need to cut to restore normal blood flow and heart function.”

The procedure was performed in the state-of-the-art biplane X-ray suite at St Francis Hospital by Drs. Jaffar Khan, Newell Robinson (Chairman, Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery and co-chair of St. Francis Hospital’s structural heart program), and William Chung (interventional cardiologist), with imaging guidance by Dr. Omar Khalique (Director of Cardiovascular Imaging). The case was telecast live to cardiovascular experts at Hong Kong Valves, one of Asia’s biggest conferences in this space.

Ralph saw results immediately. “I felt better the second I walked out of the hospital! The care was stellar!” He flew home to Ohio within days of the procedure and his back to his health walks and tutoring students. 

Learn more about Catholic Health cardiology services.