Fast Facts: What You Didn’t Know

The Latest Clinical Research at First Coast Cardiovascular Institute (FCCI)

One of the most important ways to advance medicine is clinical research. In 2007, FCCI established a clinical research department that has since enrolled nearly 3,000 patients. Housing research allows our patients to be the first to benefit from exciting new technology in the field. FCCI is proud to be taking part in the following research studies: Omeza Omeza is a wound care study that treats venous leg ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers. The study uses a lidocaine lavage, collagen matrix, and skin protectant changed weekly to heal wounds. Miracle Miracle is a drug study for patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease who are at risk for high potassium. The drug hopes to reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis. WAVE This stent graft is a flexible, self-expanding endoprosthesis used to treat hemodialyisis patients’ access points. This stent works by treating the stenosis or the occlusion that sometimes occur within the dialysis access outflow circuit. STAND A self-expanding stent that treats ischemia in the lower leg by increasing the diameter of vessels to improve blood flow to the lower limb. The MicroStent will be the first metallic stent clinically evaluated under an FDA approved investigational device exemption study. Relieve-HF This studies focuses on an implanted shunt device intended for treating patients with severe symptomatic heart failure. The shunt is designed to regulate left atrial pressure, provide symptom relief, decrease hospitalizations, and improve quality of life. TORUS-2 TORUS-2 is a covered stent graft used to help treat blockages in the main artery of the thigh. The stent helps open blocked vessels to help blood to travel down the leg. Life-BTK The ESPRIT BTK stent is used to treat critical limb ischemia. The stent is drug-eluding and helps reduce the vessel from re-narrowing and reabsorbs into tissue over time. Anthem-HFrEF is a study evaluating the VITARIA device in patients with heart failure. The VITARIA device stimulates the vagus nerve which helps improve the symptoms of heart failure. Amplatzer PFO Amplatzer PFO is an FDA approved closure device used to close a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a small opening between the two upper chambers of the heart. The device helps prevent blood from flowing between the two upper chambers. Guide-HF CardioMEMs is a device that takes daily pressure readings that are sent directly to your doctor. Your doctor can then make treatment decisions based on these readings and manage heart failure more precisely.

First Coast Cardiovascular Institute Teams Up with Orange Park Medical Center For

CARDIOLOGY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

First Coast Cardiovascular Institute (FCCI) is a proud partner of Orange Park Medical Center (OPMC) in creating a cardiology fellowship program that trains the future generation of cardiologists.

The OPMC Cardiology fellowship program was established in 2018, and proudly just graduated its first class of fully trained cardiology fellows; Drs. Areen Al-Taie and Waqas Siddiqui. Both of these physicians went on to complete further training in interventional cardiology at the prestigious institutes of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Massachusetts University-Baystate. Drs. AlTaie and Siddiqui spent three years at OPMC and FCCI Fleming Island and Jacksonville campuses learning the last innovations from our team of board-certified cardiologists.

Dr. Andrea DeNeen, cardiologist at FCCI and Program Director for the fellowship, talks about her experience with these two graduates, “These two fellows have had the opportunity to undergo training at a highvolume, high-acuity hospital that offers comprehensive cardiovascular and advanced cardiovascular services. I have really enjoyed watching them learn and grow over the past few years and I know they will go on to be great cardiologists.”

“Commitment to education is not new to the Institute. We have for over a decade participated in the training of nurses and nurse practitioners, and technologists. It is very heart-warming to see us make it full circle to now training the future cardiologists as well,” says Dr. Youssef Al-Saghir, Co-Director of the fellowship program and cardiology division chief at OPMC. Dr. Al-Saghir’s leadership had paved the way over the years for many major advances to cardiovascular care in Clay county. Our physicians work side-by-side with the fellows in the hospital and clinics to spread this knowledge and expertise.

“We are training the next generation of cardiologists that will be taking care of our families,” says Dr. Ibrahim Fahdi, Director of Cardiac Imaging, “we hope to inspire in the fellows the same passion and drive, that we here at FCCI strive towards every day.”

We are training the next generation of cardiologists that will be taking care of our families.