Houston Woman Has State’s First AngioVac Procedure at NMMC

Dr. Evan Garner, Dr. Vishal Sachdev and the NMMC team that performed the state’s first AngioVac procedure.

Torie Brinker

TUPELO, Mississippi---North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo recently became the first hospital in Mississippi to use AngioVac technology to treat tricuspid endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart that can damage the heart’s tricuspid valve.

Torie Brinker, 29, of Houston says she had been feeling a little sluggish for a few months. “I just wasn’t feeling like myself,” she says. “But I woke up one morning and my fever was sky high and I was in excruciating pain.” When the fever lingered for days and her left foot swelled so much that she couldn’t walk, she sought help at her local Emergency Room. On her second ER visit, “The doctor said, ‘I’ve run every test I can, and I don’t know what’s wrong,’” she says, and he sent her to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. By then, she had developed sepsis, a life-threatening medical emergency.

Unfortunately, antibiotics alone were not working to cure the infection. In the past, doctors would have had to remove part or all of Torie’s tricuspid valve. Instead, cardiothoracic surgeons Dr. Vishal Sachdev and Dr. Evan Garner used the vacuum-assisted device to remove infection from Torie’s heart without having to open her chest.

I’m very, very blessed to be alive,” Torie says. “I had a great team, and they saved my life.”

Torie says she had minimal pain from the procedure, and her scar is barely visible. “My recovery was great,” she says. “I saw Dr. Sachdev for follow-up this week, and he said my heart looks wonderful.”

The AngioVac procedure can also be used to treat pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition that occurs when a blood clot gets stuck in an artery in the lung, blocking blood flow to part of the lung.