Bridgeport Hospital, the first hospital in Connecticut to perform angioplasty to unblock heart arteries, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of that milestone event.

What does this mean to you? It means that Bridgeport Hospital's cardiologists and Catheterization Laboratory staff have been honing their skills for two decades-longer than any other hospital in Connecticut. It means they have seen and handled every imaginable variation of this procedure, and are fully prepared to handle even the unimaginable ones. And it means that if you or someone you love ever needs this clot-busting procedure, the Connecticut catheterization team with the most years of experience is available at Bridgeport Hospital.

"Because of this experience and expertise, we are a regional referral center for angioplasty," explains Mitchell Driesman, MD, director of Interventional Cardiology (angiograms and angioplasty). "Hospitals that don't have Heart Institutes like ours send us their patients, confident they'll get the best possible care here. We do nearly 1,500 angioplasties per year, and the more times we do it, the better we get at it, and the better our patients do. It's a wonderful perpetual circle."

For a referral to a cardiologist, or for a free brochure about The Heart Institute at Bridgeport Hospital, call (888) 3757-2396.