Heart Surgery at Medical Center

This letter concerns the article “Official Questions County’s Ability to Support 2 Transplant Programs” (Feb. 7).

In the article, Dr. Richard Ott was quoted regarding the cardiac surgery program at UC Irvine Medical Center. Dr. Ott stated that since he had arrived at UCIMC the number of open-heart procedures had quadrupled and that he is striving for excellent patient care.

In the six months before Ott’s arrival, 24 open-heart procedures were done. From Aug. 1, after his arrival, to Jan. 31, 1988, 29 patients underwent open-heart procedures. Three of these, however, were transferred from the Long Beach Veteran’s Administration Hospital for surgery since that hospital no longer has an open-heart program.

In January of 1987, seven patients underwent open-heart procedures at UCIMC, and in January, 1988, six underwent open-heart procedures at the center. Again, however, three were transferred from Long Beach Veteran’s Administration Hospital.

Thus, there was actually a decline in the number who underwent surgery who were generated from the UCIMC hospital.

The purpose of this letter is to set the record straight and to let your readers know that many people are involved in an open-heart cardiac surgical program. This includes nurses, surgical residents, cardiologists and anesthesiologists.

All of these people have striven for excellent patient care, and our surgical results have been excellent. We wish the transplant surgeons well in their endeavors and hope they will be as frank with the results as they are with their plans for those results.

ALAN B. GAZZANIGA, MD

Director Cardiothoracic Surgery, UC Irvine Medical Center