Watchman implant now available at North Gosford

The Watchman procedure - image: Wiki_commons

Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Brendan Gunalingam, is bringing a procedure to Gosford Private Hospital that can assist in preventing strokes.
The procedure is the introduction of the hospital’s first Watchman’s implant on November 23.
The ‘Watchman’ is a permanent heart implant, that helps stop clots that form in the heart traveling to the brain, in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Atrial fibrillation is responsible for 20 per cent of all strokes, and patients with atrial fibrillation are six times more likely to have a stroke.
The procedure is well established in Australia, but was only listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) on November 1, this year.
“There are currently only 13 hospitals performing this procedure around Australia,” Dr Gunalingham said.
“It is a positive step forward to be able to offer this procedure to more patients here on the Central Coast without the need for them to travel to Sydney, and further reaffirms Gosford Private as the leading cardiothoracic hospital on the Coast,” he said.
Dr Gunalingam has over seven years’ experience implanting the Watchman device in Sydney, and also provides training for other cardiologists in Australia and internationally.
The introduction of the Watchman device at Gosford Private Heart Centre will offer Central Coast patients an alternative to taking warfarin or other blood thinning drugs.

Source:
Media release, Nov 17
Haydn Murray, Gosford Private Hospital