Cardiac Shock Survivor

Doug Shaffer has a passion for photography, a hobby he resumed after a serious heart condition nearly took his life. St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular team implanted a pacemaker-defibrillator to improve his heart pump function and performed a unique mitral valve replacement procedure to stop a ‘torrential’ leak.

Keith Kopec, MD Cardiologist

DETERIORATING HEART AND ‘TORRENTIAL’ VALVE LEAK REQUIRE TEAM APPROACH

Doug Shaffer is lucky to be alive. He and his wife, Janell, agree on that point. While they joke it’s because of Doug’s stubbornness, they truly believe it was the actions from St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular team that saved his life.

Seven years ago, Doug began seeing Keith Kopec, MD, St. Luke’s cardiologist, because he was feeling tired and weak.

“Doug has one of the most complicated histories of any patient I’ve cared for,” shared Dr. Kopec. “He was initially found to have sleep apnea, and he had a lot of premature heartbeats weakening his heart. “He didn’t have any blockages in his heart arteries, so we put him on a medication to suppress the skipped beats,” Dr. Kopec continued. “He did pretty well for about four and a half years, but in late 2020, he had progressive, widespread weakness and weight loss. We repeated an echocardiogram and found his heart was pumping very poorly – much worse than when I initially met him – and his mitral valve was leaking badly.”

Surrounded with Care

To address the serious nature of Doug’s worsening heart condition, Dr. Kopec assembled specialists from St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular team, including an electrophysiologist, Weiwei Li, MD, PhD, who diagnoses and treats heart rhythm problems. He also involved an interventional and structural heart physician to consider treatment for Doug’s mitral valve (the valve that connects the upper left chamber of the heart to the lower left chamber). Their first goal was to regulate Doug’s heartbeat. To do that, Dr. Li implanted a pacemaker-defibrillator to improve pump function and monitor and shock his heart if it went into a life-threatening rhythm. However, Doug’s mitral valve was still severely leaking, causing blood to backup into his lungs. He was unable to recall what happened next. “He felt terrible and couldn’t eat,” Janell recounted. “It just got worse and worse.”

MitraClip Procedure Only at St. Luke’s

Doug had what the cardiologists considered a torrentially leaking mitral valve. He wasn’t a candidate for open-heart surgery because of the risk, so their only option was the MitraClip procedure. The MitraClip attaches to the two leaflets of the mitral valve, helping them close more completely and reduce the amount of blood flowing backward into the lungs. It is delivered to the heart via catheter through a vein in the groin. St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular team introduced MitraClip to Cedar Rapids in 2021 and is the only hospital in the area performing the procedure. MitraClip is typically reserved for patients who are stable, is pre-scheduled, and patients would generally go home the following day. Doug was not well enough to make the decision for himself.

“The ICU let us bring in all of Doug’s brothers, their wives and his daughter and son-in-law,” said Janell, “The cardiologist answered all our questions and went through every detail, helping us understand. It was a family decision to move forward; we all knew Doug may not survive.” The procedure was risky and extremely complicated. It took the heart team more than three hours to complete, but they were able to successfully clip the mitral valve and decrease the leak from torrential to mild. “Despite the pacemaker and mitral valve clip, Doug still had advanced heart failure symptoms,” explained Dr. Kopec. “He remained on various medications, including a continuous IV infusion until I weaned him off it earlier this year.”

Best Heart Doctors in Cedar Rapids

Today, Doug says he feels good. He participated in Cardiac Rehab and is back to his usual daily activities, including his hobby of photography. Reflecting on the situation, Doug and Janell are thankful for the care he received and are grateful to St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular team for everything they did. “The hospital was amazing. We have some of the best heart doctors right here in Cedar Rapids,” Doug said. “No one needs to go out-of-town; they can get all their heart care at St. Luke’s. They saved my life for sure.” To see why St. Luke’s stands out for heart and vascular care and learn more about Cedar Rapids’ Heart Hospital, visit unitypoint.org/facts-matter or call (319) 364-7101 to connect with a cardiology provider.

The hospital was amazing. We have some of the best heart doctors right here in Cedar Rapids.

WATCH A MITRACLIP

We invite you inside St. Luke’s Heart and Vascular Center as our cardiologists perform a MitraClip, and hear from one of our heart experts to learn who would benefit from this procedure.