‘Most advanced in the world’: PMC unveils new heart procedure room
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POCATELLO — With an open house Thursday evening, the Portneuf Medical Center debuted a new heart procedure room that one hospital administrator said is the most advanced in the world.
Ayham Zoreikat, the vice-president of PMC Cardiovascular, told EastIdahoNews.com that the newest technology available is implemented in the room and designed by the staff who will use it daily.
PMC Catheterization Lab Operations Manager Brandyn Muir said not only does the new technology make the room “state-of-the-art” but also multifunctional.
“This room is built for anything and everything, and we hope to use it for just that,” Muir said.
Though Thursday marked the new room’s unofficial opening, it has been used multiple times. Dr. Lynn Otto, a cardiac electrophysiology specialist, said she had used it, and it had worked “flawlessly.”
“This really is a beautiful, beautiful room. We’ll be able to take really good care of patients in here,” Otto said.
According to Muir, the new room will “effectively double” the number of cardiac electrophysiology cases the hospital can take — which was necessary, as patients drive to PMC from across the region needing “EP” treatment.
Amber Frost, an electrophysiology Nurse Practitioner, explained the field.
In layman’s terms, she described it as the study of electronic rhythms within the heart. Atrial fibrillations — or afib — are misfires in that rhythm, which, if not corrected, could lead to several issues, including strokes.
“(Strokes are) on the rise as obesity, hypertension, all these chronic health issues continue to grow,” she said.
Afibs, she said, can be viewed as a wart, which must be removed using either extreme heat or extreme cold.
“We get rid of the four heart warts that cause atrial fibrillation,” she said of her team, which will now operate primarily out of the new heart procedure room.
According to a PMC news release, PMC cardio staff will be able to use the room to perform “minimally invasive heart valve repair and replacements, atrial fibrillation ablation and surgery, minimally invasive heart bypass procedures, ablations for ventricular tachycardia and placing stents to repair aortic aneurysms.”
One of the implements Muir was incredibly excited about was the new C-arm imaging device — the most advanced available.
The device can be moved from the room in minutes should the staff need to transform the procedure room into an operating room. When it is stationary, Muir added, the enlarged “eye” of the device will allow Frost, Otto and their team to zoom in further on a patient’s heart and focus on the problem area at a level never before imagined.
“It’s a big step in providing that education and reassurance that we are at the top of our field and that we are using the latest technology,” Frost said. “This is going to open the field to better outcomes — improvements in our techniques, just making us one of the top-notch centers in the area.”