Kearney Regional Medical Center Offers Cutting-Edge Cardiology Procedure, First Of Its Kind In The Area

September is National Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Awareness Month. An estimated seven million Americans are estimated to be affected by AFib – an irregular heartbeat that can feel like a quivering heart. People with AFib have a five times greater risk of stroke than those with normal heart rhythms.

To combat this, an innovative procedure is now being performed at Kearney Regional Medical Center that uses cutting-edge technology to keep harmful blood clots from forming in the left atrial appendage (LAA), entering the blood stream, and potentially causing a stroke.

Kearney Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in Nebraska outside of Lincoln and Omaha to offer the WATCHMAN device as an alternative to the lifelong use of blood thinners for people with AFib not caused by a heart valve problem.

The WATCHMAN Implant is placed into your heart in a minimally invasive, one-time procedure that is typically done under general anesthesia and takes about an hour. It’s a permanent device that doesn’t have to be replaced and can’t be seen outside the body. The WATCHMAN technology has been implanted in more than 300,000 patients worldwide.

Said Dr. Vivek Varma, Interventional Cardiologist at Platte Valley Medical Clinic and Kearney Regional Medical Center, “I’m proud to be able to offer this technology as it offers our patients a potentially life-changing stroke risk treatment and will allow us to treat a broader range of patients going forward.”

Dr. Vivek Varma is the only certified implanter of the WATCHMAN device in Nebraska outside Lincoln and Omaha. To find out if this new implant is right for you, call 308-865-2263 or visit bryanhealth.com/pvmc-watchman.