Gratitude Stories - Susan
From time to time over several years, Susan Anderson would find herself out of breath after minor, everyday exertions. But she lived with it; just part of getting older, she figured. She also minimized the come-and-go cough that occasionally accompanied her breathing difficulties. “Maybe I had a cold or something,” she’d tell herself. “But it’s not as bad as it was yesterday. So, it must be getting better.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t getting better ... or going away.
In September of 2022, Susan was working as administrative assistant to the head of school at a college-preparatory institution. She was excited that another new academic year was underway, but the simple daily ascent of the stairs began testing Susan in ways it never had before—and she was failing.
“It was only 14 steps and an elevation of nine feet,” she recalls. “I used to get out of breath for a few seconds at the top and have to sort of pause and gather myself. But then the seconds turned into minutes, and I knew something was wrong.”
By December of that year, Susan was at a point where she couldn’t catch her breath and ended up in the emergency department at Rhode Island Hospital. There, it was discovered she had multiple pulmonary embolisms, or blood clots, blocking the arteries in her lungs.
A concerning discovery
To combat this, she was put on anticoagulants to prevent new clots from forming and stop the existing ones from getting bigger. That treatment plan worked, initially, but Susan’s follow-up three months later unearthed a concerning discovery.
In March of 2023, Susan came under the care of Christopher J. Mullin, MD, MHS, at Rhode Island Hospital. In reviewing her chart and history, Dr. Mullin suspected the presence of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). A rare and potentially fatal disease, CTEPH occurs when undissolved blood clots in the lungs cause scar tissue to form, which narrows arteries, obstructs blood flow, and increases pressure within the pulmonary vessels.
Diagnostic testing, which included a right-heart catheterization and pulmonary angiography, confirmed Dr. Mullin’s intuition. It was determined that Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty (BPA) would be Susan’s best treatment option.
BPA is a minimally invasive procedure where catheters with balloons are inserted into a patient’s pulmonary arteries and the balloons are inflated to open blockages, which improves blood flow and reduces pulmonary artery pressure.
No referrals necessary
Prior to Susan’s case, patients diagnosed with CTEPH and recommended BPA would need to be referred elsewhere for treatment, as Rhode Island Hospital did not have the capability to perform the procedure. But that changed after a multidisciplinary team of specialists from Brown University Health’s Center for Advanced Lung Care (CALC) developed expertise in BPA, which included participating in immersive training and education at the University of Michigan in 2023. As a result, Rhode Island Hospital became, and remains, the only facility in the state, and among just a handful nationwide, to perform the complex procedure—and Susan was its first-ever patient.
“Susan was the perfect patient candidate,” explains interventional cardiologist, Jinnette Dawn Abbott, MD. “She was on the healthier side, her blockages were approachable, and while her pulmonary pressures were abnormal, they weren’t so high that hemorrhages in the lungs were an exceedingly high risk. So, as long as she was willing, we were ready to go.” Dr. Abbott performed Susan’s BPA with interventional radiologist, Sun Ho Ahn, MD.
BPA is typically performed in multiple sessions, and the team performed four separate procedures on Susan, each lasting about three hours, with several weeks of recovery in between. By January of 2024, she had completed her treatment. “I started feeling better almost immediately,” says Susan, a Cranston resident, whose road to good health was a short drive too.
Care close to home enables travel far away
“Being able to provide world-class care close to home is a great asset for our community,” explains Dr. Mullin, who serves as Director of CALC’s CTEPH Program and Associate Director of its Pulmonary Hypertension Center. “Patients, like Susan, no longer have to travel to get the advanced pulmonary vascular treatments they need because it’s right here, which enables more integrated patient experiences and better outcomes.”
Ironically, Susan’s close care has led her to some distant traveling. She retired recently, and has made trips to Hawaii, London, and Cambodia. “None of these trips were possible before the surgery,” Susan says. “Healthwise, I wasn’t cleared to fly anywhere.”
Serendipitously, Dr. Mullin had a picture in his office of him and his wife at the top of Diamond Head, an iconic, elevated volcanic tuff cone on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. When Susan visited, she did the same hike with her sister, Audrey, and sent Dr. Mullin a picture at the summit. “That was a special connection moment,” Dr. Mullin says, “and it felt really cool to know that, by treating her CTEPH, we helped Susan be able to experience things like that.”
Ever grateful, Susan says, “the word angels come to mind” when she reflects on her Rhode Island Hospital care team. “The level of concern and compassion they showed me was absolutely wonderful. It’s a remarkable gift they all have.”