Leicester professor launches UKs first aortic clinic
One of our Professors has developed the UK’s first aortic clinic helping patients in Leicestershire.
Launched in November 2016, Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital is home to the UK’s first ‘aortic cardiology clinic’, diagnosing and assessing patients with aortic disease.
To provide more tailored treatment to this group of patients, Professor Toru Suzuki has developed the new clinic at Glenfield which runs on Tuesday mornings. Toru is a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at our University and an Honorary Consultant in Cardiology for Leicester’s Hospitals.
There is an increasing number of patients presenting at Leicester’s Hospitals with aortic disease. This can include aneurysms, dissections and inflammation. One in 20 males over the age of 65 has an abdominal aortic aneurysm. There has been no discipline or department that captures these patients specifically at present. They are currently sent disparately to cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and vascular surgeons. Other than surgical criteria to identify those patients needing surgery, there are no defined criteria for the management of all other patients with aortic diseases such as those not needing surgery.
The clinic provides a first, precise diagnosis and assessment of the condition a patient visits the hospital for. Then Toru and his team help organise treatment, mitigating the risks of any conditions worsening and optimize a time of surgery if needed. This includes deciding upon the best medical management with patient education. Referrals to the new aortic clinic are made from GPs, internally by Leicester’s Hospitals’ cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, or by cardiology departments at affiliated hospitals across the country.
Professor Suzuki explained how the new clinic helps tailor diagnoses for this specific group: “Patients with aortic disease have previously been dispersed among various disciplines and consultants. This clinic allows us to collate all of these patients into one group as well as offer a gateway clinic for referrals into the service for assessment.”