Health Quest 11
During the procedure, Jafar guides a balloon through a small incision in the leg to the heart's
aortic valve, where it is then inflated to re-establish normal blood flow. Valvuloplasty was once
considered a primary treatment for blocked aortic valves, but it is now used as a preparatory
procedure for a longer-term solution known as transaortic valve replacement (TAVR).
Jafar, who is medical director for interventional cardiology at Health Quest Systems Inc. and
Hudson Valley Cardiovascular, is developing a program, expected to launch in early 2015, that will
offer TAVR and other minimally invasive valve treatments. is multidisciplinary program is being
developed in conjunction with Drs. Mohan Sarabu and Peter Zakow in the VBMC department of
Cardiothoracic Surgery.
"e Heart Center is aligning itself with a new generation of heart care in which interventional
cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery work collaboratively to provide advanced treatments,"
Jafar says. "Valvuloplasty represents the first step toward that goal."
TO LEARN ABOUT OTHER ADVANCED CARDIOVASCULAR TREATMENTS, VISIT WWW.HEALTH-QUEST.ORG/
HEARTCARE.
"Low-dose CT helps identify cancers at an early stage, when treatment is easier
and more effective," says Dr. Cliff Connery, medical director at e Dyson Center
for Cancer Care at Vassar Brothers Medical Center. "Roughly 80 percent of people
whose lung cancer is detected during screening enjoy long-term survival."
Health Quest has also joined an international database that uses information
from lung cancer screenings to benefit future generations of screening recipients.
e screening, which is recommended by the American Lung Association and other
groups, costs $99, and some health insurance plans may cover the full cost. If you're
at least 55 years old and have smoked the equivalent of one pack of cigarettes a day
for 30 years, you may be eligible for the screening.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.HEALTH-QUEST.ORG/THORACIC.
CALL IT QUITS
Join with others and make a plan to quit smoking on Nov. 20 for the
American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout.
A NEW GENERATION OF
In June 2014, Dr. M. Zubair Jafar
performed The Heart Center's first-ever
balloon valvuloplasty, ushering in a new
era of advanced vascular care.
Health Quest now offers low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans to check for early signs of lung cancer.
Heart Care
SMOKE SCREENS
