January 28th 2020 – Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is now offering a procedure to treat carotid artery disease and help prevent future strokes using a new procedure called TransCarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR). TCAR (tee-kahr) is a clinically proven, minimally invasive and safe approach for high surgical risk patients who need carotid artery treatment. 

 

Carotid artery disease is a form of atherosclerosis, or a buildup of plaque, in the two main arteries in the neck that supply oxygen-rich blood to the brain. If left untreated, carotid artery disease can often lead to stroke; it is estimated to be the source of stroke in up to a third of cases, with 400,000 new diagnoses of the disease made every year in the U.S. alone.

 

“TCAR is an important new option in the fight against stroke, and is a good fit for advancing the cardiac services at our hospital,” said Teresa Urquhart, chief executive officer of Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.  “We performed the first open heart surgery in Palm Beach County at our hospital, and in keeping with our commitment to be on the forefront of cardiac care, I believe TCAR is the future of carotid repairs.”

 

TCAR is unique in that blood flow is temporarily reversed during the procedure so that any small bits of plaque that may break off are diverted away from the brain, preventing a stroke from happening. A stent is then placed inside the artery to stabilize the plaque, minimizing the risk of a future stroke. 

 

Patients also have the option of the traditional open surgical procedure for severe carotid artery, called carotid endarterectomy (CEA). CEA removes plaque from inside the carotid artery to restore normal blood flow to the brain and is still considered the standard treatment for low-risk patients. With the addition of the TCAR procedure to Palm Beach Gardens, patients who are considered to be high risk for CEA, now have another option for treatment that also lowers their risk of stroke. 

 

 

 

 

About Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is a 199-bed acute care hospital serving the medical and healthcare needs of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast for over 50 years. The hospital was the first in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast to perform open-heart surgery and has since remained one of the area’s leading heart hospitals, having performed nearly 19,000 open-heart surgeries and more than 100,000 cardiac catheterizations to date. 

 

The Heart & Vascular Institute at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center offers comprehensive cardiac care and advanced minimally-invasive procedures including Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), MitraClip, and Watchman. The hospital is the first in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin County to adopt the minimally invasive convergent approach to treat patients with atrial fibrillation. The hospital’s outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program is designed for people recovering from a heart attack, coronary bypass or valve surgery, and angioplasty or stent procedures. 

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center offers advanced orthopedic care to our community. Some of the services offered include: total joint replacements for hip, knee and shoulder, sports medicine, arthroscopy, podiatry, fracture management and inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation. In 2019, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center was the only hospital in the State of Florida to utilize the NAVIO robotic-assisted surgical system to perform total and partial knee replacements. 

Additional services include an Advanced Certified Primary Stroke Center, diagnostic imaging, general and robotic surgery, an Epilepsy Program and 24-hour emergency care. Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center’s Emergency Department offers all private rooms and is equipped with technology to help increase patient comfort, reduce wait times and provide up-to-the-minute patient status, as well as immediate access to film-based radiological images, interpretations and related data. The hospital’s Epilepsy Program is the first of its kind in Palm Beach County to have a dedicated Epilepsy Monitoring Unit that is equipped with long-term video monitoring, a specialized form of an EEG for patients who suffer from seizures. The hospital acquired the da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System which can be used across a spectrum of minimally-invasive procedures such as cardiovascular, colorectal, general surgery, gynecology, urology and more. 

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is Palm Beach County’s only hospital to get four consecutive “A’s” for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group (Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017). The hospital was the recipient of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus from 2015 – 2019 and also earned the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines – Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from 2013 to 2018. For more information or for a complimentary physician referral, please call (833)-619-8831 or visit www.pbgmc.com.