FLORENCE-The Cardiac Catheterization Lab at North Alabama Medical Center reached a milestone on Friday, August, 4th, by serving its 100,000th patient. Dr. Areen Al-Taie, MD, FACC, performed an Aveir leadless pacemaker implantation on Matthew Daugherty.
Daugherty experienced sudden chest pains while in Belmont, Mississippi, and was transferred to NAMC. “Everything went extremely smoothly,” he said, “I was really impressed with Dr. Al-Taie and the entire staff.” He was discharged the following day.
Dr. Al-Taie has been at NAMC since July of 2022. He specializes in Interventional Cardiology.
Dr. Areen Al-Taie, MD, FACC, Matthew Daugherty, NAMC cath lab directory Ricky Williams
“Mr. Daugherty was a great patient and I am glad everything went well,” said Al-Taie, who said he found out he was about to perform the 100,000th case about five minutes before he began the procedure. “This is good for our hospital because it helps get the word out that we have the capability of implanting leadless pacemakers directly into the heart.”
In 2022, the cath lab at NAMC performed 4,785 procedures. The same unit has reached 3,127 procedures through July of this year.
A cardiac cath lab is a specialized unit that is designed to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. Cath labs perform dye test on patients’ hearts and other vessels in the body. When interventions are needed, blockages are treated with balloons and stents. Cath labs are well known for placing stents in a heart during a heart attack. NAMC features the only interventional cath lab within 75 miles of Florence capable of treating heart attack patients.
The current cath lab originally began operations in December 1978 at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital under direction of the area’s first cardiologist, Dr. William H. Heaton. The original lab consisted of one room and was located within the radiology department. It represented the only cath lab between Birmingham and Nashville.
Over the course of time, the cath lab moved three times with its last move to North Alabama Medical Center in 2018. Each move added additional rooms and technology to its layout. The current location has four cath lab rooms with one room dedicated to electrophysiology studies. The cath lab provides services for 13 cardiologists, two vascular surgeons, and one interventional radiologist.
Ricky Williams, the director of NAMC’s cath lab has seen many changes since he started in 1986.
“I don’t think the community realizes what an accomplishment it was to have a cath lab in a small community setting,” said Williams. “The scope of our services has been evolving since we did our first heart cath (dye procedure on the heart) in 1978. The next year, we implanted our first pacemaker in north Alabama. Bypass surgery and balloon angioplasty followed in 1984. Coronary stents were FDA approved and implanted in 1994 at the ECM Cath Lab.”
Williams said he is excited about what the future holds for our hospital and the community with regards to cardiovascular care and treatment. “We want to offer valuable treatment options to the community we serve,” he said. “Our portfolio of procedures continues to increase and we will continue to offer lifesaving procedures to our community so they can receive care close to home.”
Media Release/Shane Herrmann/Director of Communications and Marketing/North Alabama Medical Center
