For Valve Repair Patients, Hoag is a Destination
"Everybody here is outstanding."
Angela Canlas still tears up when she thinks about her heart surgery, one
year later.
“I live in Nevada, but my cardiologist told me that if I were his
daughter, there’s only one doctor he’d send me to and that
I’d have to head to Newport Beach,” Angela said. “He
said, ‘He’s the best.’”
So, kissing her son goodbye and apologizing for missing his first few weeks
of first grade, Angela headed out to Newport Beach for a surgery to repair
her mitral valve and correct her heart murmur. She knew she’d be
in good hands. But she was terrified.
Angela knew Aidan A. Raney, M.D., is one of the world’s most experienced
mitral valve repair surgeons, and Pravin Shah, M.D., is an internationally
renowned pioneer of echocardiography. What she didn’t realize is
that they are also committed and kind.
From the very beginning, Angela’s doctors worked to make her feel
comfortable and confident about the robotic mitral valve repair surgery
she was going to undergo at Hoag’s Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart &
Vascular Institute.
“Everyone is so nice, and they make you feel cared for,” Angela
said. “While they were doing the surgery, they found a hole in my
heart that I apparently was born with, so they closed that up, too. My
heart is completely fine now. I am so grateful.”
Angela no longer gasps for breath when she speaks, she can chase her 7-year-old
son around without raising her heart rate to dangerous levels and her
heart murmur is gone.
Dr. Raney, medical director of cardiovascular surgery at Hoag, is a leader
in minimally-invasive techniques that allow patients to undergo major
surgeries with minimal incisions and much easier recovery periods. For
Angela’s surgery, Dr. Raney made three tiny incisions in her utilizing
special instruments to perform her mitral valve repair.
Meanwhile, Dr. Shah performed 3D echocardiography (a highly advanced ultrasound
of the heart) on Angela to ensure the best possible outcome.
Although the American College of Cardiology recommends this approach to
mitral valve regurgitation when appropriate, too few surgeons have enough
experience to perform the intricate surgery. Instead, many patients undergo
an open-chest surgery to replace the valve, not repair it, and are left
with a six-inch scar afterward.
“You can’t even see it,” Angela said, of the incisions.
“And after three weeks, I didn’t even need pain medication
anymore.”
Hoag’s well-earned reputation for patient care and positive outcomes
means that people like Angela come to Hoag from across the country expecting
expert treatment. What they don’t expect is the high level of personal
care that comes with it.
“From the time I got there for pre-op, to my surgery and my entire
stay, through the very last moment when they’re wheeling me out
to the parking lot in the wheel chair, everyone was so nice and sweet
and kind,” Angela said. “I thought, ‘Everybody here
is just outstanding.’”