Dana Lewis

The symptoms of a heart attack can vary from person to person, but what if you had an early warning system that would alert you to go to the hospital before the first sign of trouble? Doctors here at Swedish are testing out a new device they hope could do just that.

In early January 2010 Swedish became the first medical center in western Washington to begin participation in the ALERTS Pivotal U.S. Trial for the AngelMed Guardian implantable cardiac monitor and alert system. The system is designed to reduce the time it takes patients to get to an emergency room during an impending heart attack.

The AngelMed Guardian System ® is designed to track significant changes in the heart’s electrical signal and then alert patients to seek medical attention. The objective of the ALERTS Pivotal Study is to provide an assessment of the safety and effectiveness of the AngelMed Guardian System.

“If the Guardian system proves to be effective in the early detection and warning of potentially life-threatening heart conditions, we may be able to shift the paradigm for early treatment at the onset of heart attacks,” said Swedish Heart & Vascular Institute interventional cardiologist Mark Reisman, M.D., principle investigator for this study at Swedish.

According to the American Heart Association, one of every five deaths in the United States is attributable to coronary heart disease. Further, 50 percent of heart-attack fatalities occur within one hour of symptom onset and occur before the patient even reaches the hospital.

Forget 'will it blend' - you should be asking, can my robot paint a pumpkin? (It can!)

Dr. Kristen Austin, OB/GYN (obstetrics and gynecology) physician at Swedish/Issaquah paints a Jack-O-Lantern on a miniature pumpkin using the da Vinci robot to demonstrate how this device gives surgeons greater surgical precision and dexterity over existing approaches.

If you've been wondering what the setup looks like in the OR, here are a few behind the scenes photo from our video shoot:

It's a well known fact that animals can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and promote healing. The Swedish/Edmonds Therapy Pups (STP) program, which began in early 2008, has expanded to include more than 10 teams of volunteer handlers and their Pet Partners®. Presently, the teams visit patients on surgery floors, but they can be stopped for a visit any time you see them in the halls. While their primary purpose is to see hospital patients, they often visit patients’ family and friends too – and our staff!

So what do handlers and their therapy pups do during a visit? I asked a few of our teams to share their stories. Also, make sure you watch the ‘dog cam’ below!

Some people prefer to read. Some prefer to listen. And some watch videos.

Based on our YouTube channel, we know that many people find videos to be a helpful resource to learn more about their health, diseases, conditions, treatments, meet their physicians and more.

For example, Dr. Ludlam’s videos on the pituitary gland and some related diseases and conditions are some of our most viewed videos (after the flash mob and robotic videos):

For those who have the day off today, we hope you enjoy it! While Labor Day is traditionally celebrated as a day off of work for many people, remember that it shouldn’t be a day to forget your health:

• If you’re spending the day outside, remember to wear sunscreen (yes, even in Seattle) and to stay hydrated

• A holiday doesn’t require junk food – here are some recipes and healthy ideas to help you celebrate

• As you do for other public celebrations, keep these safety tips in mind for your kids

• Adults and kids alike – remember to be careful crossing the street, and don’t text/IM/chat while doing so!

• If you are worried about your kids’ health on the weekend, here’s a tool to help – download our kids symptom checker for your phone or check it out online

• If you do have a health concern or an emergency that occurs over the holiday weekend, click here for maps, directions, and numbers to our facilities

Labor Day is also a great day to acknowledge and thank our employees for their tireless work year-round on behalf of our patients. To all of our employees - thank you for all that you do!

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our new web site, www.seriouslykickingcancersbutt.com.

Since opening the first cancer-radiation treatment center west of the Mississippi more than 80 years ago, Swedish has helped more people fight cancer than any other provider in the region. Even today, we are committed to ensuring that our local community has access to the most advanced tools and treatments, and the nation's leading experts in cancer care. Click here to learn more about the Swedish Cancer Institute.

You can download a variety of podcasts about cancer by visiting www.swedish.org/cancerpodcasts.

Also, read other blog posts by physicians, nurses, and staff from the Swedish Cancer Institute:

• Restoring independence to patients with pleural effusion

• Genetic Counseling – what it means for cancer patients and their families

• Helping patients with mesothelioma

• Are you ready for surgery?

• Cutting edge concepts in the treatment of tongue, tonsil, and throat cancer

• GERD and Esophageal cancer – why you should talk with your physician about GERD

If you were diagnosed with cancer or another disease, wouldn’t you want your treatment and medicines to be as unique as you are?

This is a growing trend in medicine where the type of treatment a patient gets depends on their DNA.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Hank Kaplan of the Swedish Cancer Institute spoke with KING5 about the I-SPY clinical trial (click here to watch the KING5 story).

The usual treatment for breast cancer may be surgery, followed by chemotherapy, possibly radiation and as a last resort, a clinical trial.

The I-SPY clinical trial turns that thinking upside down by actually extracting DNA from a tumor to figure out which new drug will likely work best, then giving it to the patient first, even before surgery.

"The goal of the I-SPY trial is really to develop a faster and cheaper way to develop new drugs for breast cancer . We're hoping that this is a new paradigm that will work for other kinds of cancer too," said Dr. Kaplan.