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Vandalia Health’s Mon Health Heart & Vascular Team Performs Life-Saving Procedure for Pittsburgh Pediatric Patient

Posted Date: 9/27/2024
Seventeen-year-old pediatric patient, Jamea Reese, had been living with severe hypertension caused by complications from diabetes, kidney failure, and a stroke. She had been hospitalized for over a year at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and with such complicated health conditions for a pediatric patient, was running out of options for treatment. Luckily, just about 80 miles down I-79 at Mon Health Medical Center, was cardiologist Dr. Wissam Gharib, an expert in renal denervation (RDN), which was just the right procedure to treat Jamea’s condition.

On December 29, 2023, Dr. Gharib performed West Virginia’s first RDN procedure for high blood pressure with the new Paradise® Ultrasound Renal Denervation system. Mon Health Medical Center was one of the first 10 medical facilities in the United States to offer this procedure to treat patients with high blood pressure as a minimally-invasive option for patients that uses ultrasound energy to ablate the renal nerves and lower blood pressure.

Just north of the medical advances at Mon Health Medical Center was the 17-year-old patient, fighting for her life at UPMC. Living in a hospital, experiencing a life no teenager should ever have to live, Jamea needed hope, and she needed it fast. She needed to get her blood pressure controlled as she was out of options and was referred to the RDN procedure by the experts of Mon Health Heart & Vascular.

Dr. Gharib is one of the leading cardiologists in the region and is one of few in the country with expertise in renal denervation. When it came to be that the RDN procedure might provide a glimmer of hope for 17-year-old Jamea, Dr. Gharib and the Mon Health Heart & Vascular team stepped up immediately.

After working swiftly and diligently to ensure a safe transport for Jamea to Mon Health Medical Center in Morgantown, Dr. Gharib was able to perform the life-altering RDN procedure and she was able to be sent back to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for recovery.

“It is a great privilege to be able to help Jamea, who is a wonderful, beautiful soul. She had suffered so much from uncontrolled hypertension and all of its complications. We were able to get her out of the intensive care unit and on her way to recovery,” said Dr. Wissam Gharib, cardiologist and Director of Structural Heart at Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center.

The Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center is nationally recognized, providing advanced heart care across the region. Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center is the first in West Virginia and 24th in the nation to be designated as HeartCARE Center National Distinction of Excellence by the American College of Cardiology (ACC), is the first in the state to be awarded Electrophysiology Accreditation by the ACC, has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report to its 2024-2025 Best Hospitals as a High Performing Hospital in COPD and Heart Failure, among more.

From diagnostics to rehabilitation, Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center covers every beat. Learn more about the expert heart care available near you at MonHealth.com/Heart.
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