CARDIAC CATH LAB - Mount Sinai Hospital

Patient: Peggy Hirsch, 75-year-old female
Diagnosis and Treatment 1: Acute heart attack;
reversed with opening occluded LAD and stenting
Diagnosis and Treatment 2: Advanced peripheral
artery disease; corrected with series of revascularization
surgeries and aggressive pharmacological therapies
“I owe Dr. Moreno a lot. I
came close to the edge and if
it hadn’t been for the personal
attention he gave my case, I
don’t think things would have
turned out so well.”
Post PCI
“My troubles started with a tick bite in 2004,” Peggy Hirsch recalls.
“That turned into Lyme disease, which triggered a host of other
problems.” The first sign that more than Lyme arthritis was
making Mrs. Hirsch sick came in June 2005 when she experienced
shortness of breath and pain in her shoulders followed by chest
pain. On July 14th, 2005, she was rushed from her Manhattan
apartment to Mount Sinai’s ER with an acute heart attack.
“Tests showed my heart muscle working at 35 percent with a
severe blockage of my main coronary artery,” Hirsch recalls.
“They sent me to Dr. Moreno. He cleared the blockage, inserted
a stent, and presto, my blood was flowing, and pretty soon I
could breathe on my own again.”
Peggy made a successful recovery from her MI, but within a
year she was showing signs of progressive circulatory problems
in her hands and legs. She saw Dr. Moreno again. “After taking
blood tests, he called to tell me that I had an advanced form
of giant cell arteritis (GCA), a disorder possibly triggered by
the Lyme disease. As GCA can quickly lead to blindness, he
urged me to come in immediately.”
So back Peggy went to Mount Sinai for a two-stage
revascularization intervention, including angioplasties
on both legs and a carotid-brachial bypass, the latter to
replace a section of diseased right brachial artery.
“I owe Dr. Moreno a lot. I came close to the edge, and if it hadn’t
been for the personal attention he gave my case, I don’t think
things would have turned out so well. Today I’m enjoying a full
life, able to spend joyful times with my grandchildren.”
42 Mount Sinai Hospital Cardiac Cath Lab