Abraham Using Leading-Edge Techniques to Treat Heart Patients

Dr. Nik Abraham of North Oaks Cardiology is continuing to break new ground in Louisiana as the first provider to use leading-edge techniques and devices to treat heart patients in a minimally invasive way at North Oaks Medical Center.

Most recently, Dr. Abraham became the first cardiologist in Louisiana to use a new type of temporary pacemaker and the first on the Northshore to deploy a new type of stenting to treat blockages where one artery branches from another.

He also is one of the few doctors in the state performing alcohol septal ablation to relieve symptoms caused by abnormal thickening of the heart muscle. In addition, “hole in the heart” adult patients are benefiting from his expertise in performing adult atrial septal defect closures to repair their condition.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2016, the Tempo Temporary Pacing Lead is an alternative temporary heart-pacing device. It can be used to regulate heart rhythm during a variety of cardiovascular procedures, including: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and reversal of slower-than-normal bradychardia heart rhythms. It also can be used as a supportive device for interventional procedures, such as: pacemaker extractions, pacemaker battery changes and alcohol septal ablations.

According to Abraham, the device’s stability means less chance of complications for patients. It also means patients can be up and moving earlier and have shorter hospital stays.

Patients with coronary artery disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. in both men and women, also are benefiting from Dr. Abraham’s expertise. Coronary artery disease often results in the buildup of plaque at a site where one artery branches from another, also known as a bifurcation. About 20 to 30 percent of all patients undergoing coronary interventions to open blocked arteries have a bifurcation lesion.

“This can be a dangerous condition that generally requires lengthy and multiple technically difficult treatments,” Abraham explains.

A new bifurcation treatment device, the Tryton Side Branch Stent, is giving interventional cardiologists like Abraham a way to directly target these types of lesions. It was approved by the FDA in February 2017 as the first of its kind.

Honored as North Oaks Physician of the Year for 2017, Abraham joined North Oaks Physician Group in 2013. He chaired the Medicine Department on behalf of the North Oaks Medical Center Medical Executive Committee in 2016 and 2017. Since 2014, he also has served on the hospital’s committee responsible for reviewing cardiology cases.

Abraham is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology. He also is certified by the American Society of Echocardiography in Echocardiography. He is fellowship-trained in Interventional Cardiology and Cardiovascular Disease through Christiana Care Health System/Jefferson Medical College in Newark, Delaware, where he also completed his medical degree, internship and residency.

To schedule an appointment with Abraham, call (985) 230-APPT [2778] or 1 (844) APPT-NOW [277-8669].