Long Island man survives widow-maker heart attack with "game-changing" oxygen therapy at North Shore University Hospital
MANHASSET, N.Y. -- A new cardiac treatment is being called a game changer for patients recovering from one of the deadliest types of heart attacks.
One month ago, 64-year-old Kevin Kapela suffered a widow-maker heart attack, which can be deadly in minutes.
Kapela was playing golf at the time and drove himself to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
Cardiologists said they gave Kapela two stints and he became one of the first patients given oxygen therapy.
"There's a whole channel, a network of vessels that we treat with this therapy that essentially gives super-saturated oxygen down to the microscopic cellular level," said Dr. Gaurav Rao, an interventional cardiologist at North Shore University Hospital.
"My heart rejuvenated itself, or coming back to life after the damage," said Kapela.
North Shore's Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital is the only hospital in New York to offer oxygen therapy.