Penn Presbyterian Medical Center has once again been ranked among America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care by Healthgrades and earned an additional Coronary Intervention Excellence Award! Healthgrades evaluated 16 specialty service lines at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide and determined that PPMC continues to raise the bar for patient-centered cardiac care. To earn this recognition, the cardiology team demonstrated consistently superior clinical outcomes in heart bypass surgery, coronary interventional procedures, heart attack treatment, heart failure treatment, and heart valve surgery.
CEO Michele Volpe expressed her “admiration” following the announcement, writing, “Congratulations to our cardiovascular colleagues, and thank you for the great work you and your teams do here at Penn Presbyterian.”
In addition to the excellent clinical work performed by Presby’s surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, physical therapists, and other care providers, the hospital’s robust, innovative cardiology research program also plays a key role in ensuring optimal outcomes and gaining national attention.
The team recently published their annual report summarizing their latest successes, including the publication of two PPMC-led studies in the New England Journal of Medicine. The report also broke down the team’s 40 ongoing research studies, 12 of which were initiated in 2019 and 26 of which are actively enrolling patients. A major research focus for the team is the treatment of amyloidosis, which occurs when amyloid proteins build up in the heart or other organs. A trial led by Brian M. Drachman, MD, associate chief of Cardiovascular Medicine, examining the impact of administering an investigational monoclonal antibody (PRX004) intravenously on patients with amyloidosis has just entered Phase 1 and is now recruiting participants.
“There is so much to be excited about; Penn has produced an unending stream of advancements,” said project manager Elizabeth Medenilla. “Such cutting edge research would not exist without the support of all who step outside of the comfort zone of routine care and into the challenges of research protocols. We send you a big ‘thank you’ to all who have contributed to another extraordinarily successful year from our team and from all the patients and future patients who will benefit from our research findings.”