Lincoln surgeon has implanted one device 400 times

Watchman device helps prevent stroke

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Dr. Stephen Ackerman has performed more Watchman procedures, which help prevent blood clots that could cause strokes, than any doctor in the region.

Ackerman is in the top 1% nationally of doctors performing the procedure, and he is right here in Lincoln at the CHI Health Nebraska Heart Institute.

“Thank God I didn’t have to go that far to have it done, and they’ve got some very good doctors and a very good hospital here so why not?” said Bill Sack, who underwent the procedure this week.

That was the 400th Watchman procedure for Ackerman.

“The advantage to doing a lot of them is that I will rarely turn down procedures,” he said. “I will always try to do them.”

Ackerman is so experienced with the Watchman procedure that he teaches others across the country how to do it well.

“So I’ve been doing it enough that I’ve gone around the country and helped people start their programs, and then I go in on the procedures,” he said. “I don’t scrub in with them, but I’m right behind them and whispering in their ear basically on how to maneuver catheters and things like that.”

Because he is able to work on the difficult cases, he has had patients from all over.

“A lot of our patients are from the western part of Nebraska, northern part of Kansas,” he said. “We get quite a few from Iowa as well.”

The procedure helps patients with atrial fibrillation go off of blood thinners and get back to more normal activities.

Ackerman said that nearly 10% of those 80 or older suffer from this heart condition.

During the procedure, a small umbrella-like device into the heart to help prevent clots.

“Atrial fibrillation, it is extremely common,” Ackerman said. “Many people don’t feel it, but no matter what, the risk factor for stroke is there, which is why this is all so important.”

Sack felt better and was able to go home just hours after his procedure.

“That charged me up in a very short time, and so again, I’m just so happy it’s done,” Sack said.

As a farmer on blood thinners, he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do, in fear of getting hurt on the job.

“It’s happened already, thankfully, I wasn’t that far away from home, but I mean I just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Sack said. “So it was kinda, definitely bothersome.”

After taking about 45 days to heal, Sack will not have to take multiple blood thinners and will be able to get back to normal activity.

“Believe it or not, I’m 81 years old, but that’s kind of my hobby, is farming,” he said. “Now I can go out and sit on a tractor without having to think about doing something I shouldn’t do.”

The Nebraska Heart Institute was the first in the region to start doing this procedure. The region includes Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and western Wisconsin.

For more information on this procedure, contact the Nebraska Heart Institute at 402-328-3953.