Bassett Medical Center Completes 100th Watchman Procedure

Cooperstown, NY – Bassett Healthcare Network announced today that its Interventional Cardiology team at Bassett Medical Center has completed their 100th Watchman heart procedure since launching the program in 2020.

“Congratulations to Bassett’s entire Interventional Cardiology team for providing these essential services and remarkable outcomes to our communities,” said Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, President and CEO of Bassett Healthcare Network. “We are beyond proud of their exceptional accomplishments.”

“WATCHMAN is a one-time procedure for people with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) – which is an abnormal heartbeat – not caused by a heart valve problem who are looking for an alternative to taking medicines that are long-term blood thinners,” said Dr. Dhananjai Menzies, Interventional Cardiologist at Bassett Medical Center, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, and Structural and Interventional Program.

The Watchman implant device is approximately the size of a quarter and shaped like a parachute. It is implanted into the heart to close off the left atrial appendage (LAA), a blind pouch of heart tissue, to prevent blood clots from forming and causing a stroke. Patients receiving a Watchman typically spend less time in the hospital compared to those who undergo open-heart surgery.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States. Roughly 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S. in 2020 were caused by heart disease, with one person dying from cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds.

Five of the eight counties in Bassett’s service area have cardiovascular disease death rates consistently above or far above the New York State and national averages.

Bassett’s Interventional Cardiology team also recently completed their 300th Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and is closing in on completing 10,000 coronary stent procedures. Their Cardiac Stenting program is in the top three in New York State in terms of outcomes.