Published: March 26, 2021

Avita Health System First to Treat Heart Attack Patients with SuperSaturated Oxygen Therapy

GALION/ONTARIO – Avita Health System is the first healthcare organization in North Central Ohio and the first critical access hospital in the United States to improve the treatment of severe heart attack patients with SuperSaturated Oxygen (SSO₂) Therapy – the first and only FDA-approved therapy that immediately follows angioplasty and stenting to significantly reduce heart muscle damage.

Avita Health System recently added SSO₂ Therapy at Galion and Ontario Hospitals. The first patient was successfully treated yesterday at Galion Hospital by Interventional Cardiologist Joseph Mayo, MD, PhD and Avita’s heart attack alert team, led by James White, Director of Cardiovascular Services. This marked a historic event for Galion Hospital, making it the first critical access hospital in the country to utilize SSO₂ Therapy.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the work Avita’s cardiology team has done for the community since we opened our first interventional cath lab in 2018,” explained Jerry Morasko, President and CEO of Avita Health System. “They have saved more than 100 lives since the inception of our heart attack program and now they are doing even more with this amazing therapy treatment.”

SSO₂ Therapy delivers hyperoxemic levels of dissolved oxygen directly to the damaged heart muscle immediately after the coronary artery has been successfully opened via angioplasty and stenting. It is indicated for patients who suffer the most serious kind of heart attacks, left anterior descending ST-elevation myocardial infarction (LAD STEMI) – also known as widowmakers due to the high mortality rate – and are treated within six hours of symptom onset.

“SSO₂ Therapy helps heal the body and reduce cardiac tissue damage in patients with serious heart attacks,” explained Dr. Mayo. “The most serious heart attacks often cause severe damage to the heart and can put a patient at high risk for developing heart failure in the future. SSO₂ Therapy helps reduce those risks. It’s a huge benefit to our patients and an investment in their long-term health.”

A heart attack is typically caused when the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart is blocked or reduced. For many patients, even after blood flow is quickly restored with angioplasty and stenting, irreversible damage to the heart muscle, or infarction, will occur. SSO₂ Therapy delivers localized superoxygenated blood to improve microvascular blood flow and reduce damage to the heart muscle.

“SuperSaturated oxygen therapy for acute MI is one of the many evidence-based, cutting-edge technologies that Avita Health System utilizes to deliver the best cardiovascular care for our patients,” added Michael Davis, MD, MBA, Medical Director of Cath Lab Services.

SSO₂ Therapy was developed by Irvine, California-based TherOx, a ZOLL Medical company, and is the first and only FDA-approved treatment beyond percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to significantly reduce muscle damage in heart attack patients.