Lawrence Park Has One of the World’s Best Laser Cardiologists

By

They come from all corners of the globe to learn how to wield a laser like he does, and they all come to save lives. You could say he is a superhero, though he just says his work his rewarding.

Antonis Pratsos, MD.
Antonis Pratsos, MD.

Meet interventional cardiologist Antonis Pratsos.

“I probably have used a laser more than anybody in the country and maybe in the world in the last 10 years being here,” the Cyprus native and Wynnewood resident said in a Hellenic News of America report by David Bjorkgren.

That laser is an ultraviolet “cool laser” used to dissolve blockage in medical patients with heart disease, and “here” is Delaware County — Pratsos works with Marple Medical Associates in the Lawrence Park Shopping Center and performs operations at Bryn Mawr Hospital and the Lankenau Heart Institute.

“What I do is try and avoid the surgery. With wires and catheters, we get in there and we open all these things,” he said in the article. “… You don’t open the patient up. You don’t take it to someone’s heart, to put grafts in it, to put valves in, to open up the aorta and do all the things … that are with a knife and retractors, stitching and all that.”

As a result, Bryn Mawr Hospital “used to do 400 bypasses a year and now they do maybe 50.”

Even more impressive is that Pratsos is training 50 cardiologists per year, including some from Japan, China, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Chile. Why?

“Call it selfish on my behalf, but it’s rewarding,” he said, “as opposed to a chronic illness where you have arthritis. … I give you a pill and you still have arthritis. You still have coronary disease but you get a stent or you get a procedure and you feel a lot better and you can function. That’s what got me into it.”

Read much more about Pratsos’ story and his take on coming new technologies in the Hellenic News of America here.

Join Our Community

Never miss a Delaware County story!

"*" indicates required fields

Hidden
DT Yes
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Advertisement