Saint Alphonsus - Nampa Physician Brings 21st Century Technology to Southwestern Idaho Heart Patients

Dr. Michael Codina First Cardiologist in Region to Implant CardioMEMS

Dr. Michael Codina, a cardiologist at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Nampa is the first doctor in Southwest Idaho to implant the CardioMEMS device in a patient with a history of heart failure. He successfully implanted the device, which measures pulmonary artery pressure and heart rate, in a 47-year-old man.

The CardioMEMS HF System features a sensor that is implanted in the pulmonary artery (PA) during a minimally invasive, non-surgical procedure to directly measure PA pressure. Increased PA pressures appear before weight and blood pressure changes, which are often used as indirect measures of heart failure. The new system allows patients to transmit daily sensor readings from their homes to their health care providers allowing for personalized and proactive management to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization.

“By allowing us to monitor patients essentially from home, we can detect changes in their pulmonary pressures, which indicates that potentially something is starting to worsen. If we can catch that change before they develop symptoms, then we may be able to prevent them being admitted into the hospital,” Dr. Codina said. “Obviously, if we are preventing symptoms by catching them before they start, then we are going to improve a patient’s quality of life and patient survival.”

Codina added, “This is 21st-century medicine, remote monitoring of patients in ways that we have never been able to monitor them before!”

The CardioMEMS HF System is the first and only FDA-approved heart failure monitoring device that has been proven to significantly reduce hospital admissions when used by physicians to manage heart failure. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Nampa’s Heart Center is the only facility in Southwestern Idaho to offer this technology.

“CardioMEMS helps patients and their physicians recognize cardiac issues long before they would ever recognize the physical symptoms. This also allows patients to avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and hospital stays” said Travis Leach, President of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Nampa. “I am so proud that Saint Alphonsus continues to be a market leader and invests in life saving technology in our community, where patients experience better outcomes and lower healthcare costs.”

Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands. According to the American Heart Association, nearly six million Americans have heart failure and 900,000 new patients are diagnosed each year. Patients with heart failure are frequently hospitalized, have a reduced quality of life and face a higher risk of death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that half of heart failure patients die within five years of diagnosis.