Prof. Tienush Rassaf

General and Acute cardiology

Our General and Acute Cardiology Section includes an Emergency Admissions Unit, the “Chest Pain Unit”, which has been established especially for the evaluation of emergency cardiology patients with suspect cardiac infarct and other cardiovascular emergencies.

The hospital has multiple stat-of-the-art Cardiac Catheter Laboratories, in which over 4,000 procedures are performed annually, together with examinations and treatments of the cardiovascular system.

A special preparation algorithm has been developed at our hospital for coronary interventions with increased risk. This comprises measures in the ward for the patient’s preparation (special clarification) and certain requirements in the cardiac catheter laboratory (cardiac support system, cardioanalgosedation).

We are one of the first hospitals in Germany to provide an Onco-cardiology Program. This provides guidance, diagnosis and concomitant therapy for cancer patients, prior to, during and following cardiotoxic treatment, for the prevention and treatment of cardiac conditions in the wake of cancer treatment. This innovative program also addresses the scientific analysis of the risk to those patients who have been given cancer treatment which may potentially affect cardiovascular functions. Close collaboration with the Department of Gynecology, Dermatology, Urology and the Western German Tumor Center and thanks to the application of the most advanced techniques, early damage to the heart can be recognized and treated early.

The area of activity of our hospital includes all diagnostic techniques in cardiovascular medicine, with a focus on cardiology. These are available both to out-patients in the Polyclinic and the clinics and to in-patients. One focus of functional diagnostics is echocardiography. Here, the beating heart is examined by means of ultrasound. Thanks to extensive examination protocols, a high degree of standardization and facilities with state-of-the-art equipment in our hospital, cardiac conditions can be recognized in the early stages.

Structural cardiac conditions

New techniques for minimal invasive, catheter-based treatment of cardiac valve conditions have been developed in the last decade, which have fundamentally changed the previous treatment concepts for patients with these conditions. Previously only surgically treatable structural heart conditions can now be treated using interventional techniques with very good results. Here, above all, the treatment of aortic valve stenosis and mitral valve stenosis by means of catheter techniques has been established. Together with cardiac vascular conditions (cardiac infarct, coronary heart disease), the focus here is also on congenital (atrial septal defect) and acquired cardiac defects (aortic valve stenosis, mitral valve stenosis) and vascular conditions, particularly of the aorta (aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection).

Rhythmology and Device Therapy

One focus of our Center for Electrophysiology and Rhythmology is the invasive and noninvasive diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

Along with noninvasive examinations such as resting EKG, long-term EKG, ergometry, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, our service portfolio includes interventional electrophysiology (including ablation therapy) and invasive and noninvasive device therapy (including CRT-D and S-ICD implantation). Cardiac insufficiency and intensive care In order to respond to the increasing number of patients with severe cardiac insufficiency, special structures have been created at the Department of Cardiology at the Western German Cardiac and Vascular Center in Essen to meet this need.

The central structure of our Center of Excellence for Cardiac Insufficiency is an in-patient ward tailored to the requirements of the patient with cardiac insufficiency, an artificial heart or a heart transplant – the “Heart Failure Unit (HFU)”. Here, patients with severe cardiac insufficiency, patients following a heart transplant and, in particular, patients following the implantation of an artificial heart can be comprehensively cared for and all therapeutic and diagnostic procedures can be performed.

Diagnostic and Interventional Angiology Here, the spectrum of the Department includes diagnosis, advice, medication / conservative treatment and, not least, minimal invasive, catheter-guided procedures (therapeutic interventions) for conditions of the arteries and veins. The most advanced and innovative techniques are drawn on for the identification and treatment of arterial, venous and lymphatic vascular conditions. A particular focus is placed on the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic conditions such as extracranial and peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). In treating PAOD, we are able to rely on many years of expertise in the dilatation of constrictions and the reopening (balloon dilatation and recanalization) of longstanding arterial occlusions in the arteries of the upper leg and the lower leg and the pelvic arteries.

In our new Out-patient Cardiovascular Centre in Essen, , following clarification beforehand and in the case of a coronary diagnosis without intervention, the patient is able to undergo a cardiac catheter examination as an out-patient and to be discharged home again by as early as the afternoon. Transesophageal echocardiography including electric cardioversion can also be performed on an out-patient basis.

• Coronary cardiac conditions including treatment of acute coronary syndrome
• High risk procedures including cardiac support systems for interventional treatment of complex coronary heart disease
• Acquired structural cardiac conditions including interventional treatment of aortic valve and mitral valve conditions
• Congenital cardiac defects including PFO, ASD and LAA closure
• Interventional electrophysiology with complex ablation and device implantation (ICD, CRT, cardiac pacemaker, S-ICD)
• Cardiac insufficiency including mechanical support systems and heart transplantation listing and follow-up care
• Vascular conditions including the care of patients with acute aortic syndromes (aortic dissection, penetrating aortic ulcer, intramural hematoma)
• Cardiac intensive care including the treatment of patients in acute cardiogenic shock
• Diagnostic and interventional angiology treatment (recanalization, PTA, stent Implantation)