Jeff Adams was having a tough day at work. He had a report due to his boss and the printer wasn’t working properly. He jumped up from his desk, steaming mad. The next thing he knew, he was pushed back into his chair by an incredible force. Clutching his chest in excruciating pain, he barely managed to get out the words “Call 911.”
After a quick response by local paramedics, the 39-year-old Adams soon found himself at nearby Marina del Rey Hospital. During the next 24 hours, he underwent a variety of tests to determine whether he had suffered a heart attack or if there were some other causes of his pain.
Through imaging studies, it was determined that he had an aortic dissection. An uncommon, very serious condition, an aortic dissection is a tear in the inner layer of the aorta, the large blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart. If the aorta ruptures through the outside aortic wall, the condition is usually fatal.
“We received an urgent call in the late afternoon from Marina del Rey Hospital,” said John Robertson, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery at Saint John’s Health Center. “Since they don’t have cardiac surgeons at that hospital, he was transferred to Saint John’s.
“With aortic dissection, the patient can die at any second unless treated. Without surgery, half of all patients die within 48 hours, and only 8 percent survive a month. Unfortunately, this is what happened with actor John Ritter, who did not receive an accurate diagnosis in time,” Dr. Robertson explained. “We arranged for immediate transport to Saint John’s and moved into surgical high gear. Dr. Kathy Magliato and I, along with a number of other staff members, gathered at the trauma bay to meet the ambulance.”
Adams recalled the moment he arrived at Saint John’s. “I was amazed to see this big group of people waiting for me,” he said. “I felt so welcomed and warmly received. I found myself being lifted onto a gurney and then wheeled rapidly down a hallway surrounded by a phalanx of running people.”
“As I was being wheeled in,” continued Adams, “I looked up at Dr. Robertson and asked, ‘Am I going to die today?’ In a calm and professional manner, he explained the seriousness of my condition and my odds without the surgery. After I agreed to the surgery, his answer was ‘No, you are not going to die today.’ Even as the realization hit me that open heart surgery is not for the meek, his steady confidence allowed me to relax.”
Dr. Robertson described the intricacies of the surgery. “We actually involved three cardiothoracic surgeons in the complex operation,” he said. “While Dr. Magliato and I opened the chest to expose the aorta, another surgeon opened the groin and connected the patient to the cardiopulmonary bypass machine. All three surgeons participated in the actual replacement of the diseased aorta and the repair of the patient’s aortic valve. With our experience with this condition and our finely coordinated surgical team, we achieved a successful outcome.”
Saint John’s will forever hold a special place in Adams’ heart. “From the moment I arrived through the days I spent in the hospital recovering, everyone at Saint John’s was so caring,” he said. “They saved my life and surrounded me with love. I tell everyone how grateful I am.”