Salem Hospital’s New
Heart-Healthy Equipment

Arrhythmia is a disruption in the heart’s normal electrical system, triggering an irregular heart beat.

According to Robert Estrada, Salem Hospital’s cardiovascular services manager, it’s a common ailment in people older than age 50.

Until recently, blood-thinning and heart-slowing medications were the primary methods of controlling arrhythmia.

But thanks to equipment purchased with a $125,000 grant from the Salem Hospital Foundation, various types of arrhythmia can now be quickly identified, mapped and often cured, without the need for medication.

“The hospital’s capital budget was tight, and I knew the Foundation provided assistance to worthwhile projects that help advance medical care in our community,” says Estrada. “Without the Foundation’s funding, we couldn’t have purchased the new equipment and implemented the improvements.”

The electrophysiology mapping system provides the medical team with multiple sources of vital, real-time information from a patient’s heart. This information is displayed on three computer screens, while the electrophysiologist guides catheters to the site of the problematic cells, and then neutralizes them with high-frequency radio waves. This procedure is referred to as cardiac ablation.

Before getting the new system, the Electrophysiology Department was doing about four ablations per month, with older, less sophisticated equipment. And nearly all of those cases were not complicated.

“With the new equipment, we have more than tripled the number of cases we’re doing, and we can also now take care of more complex cases,” says Estrada.

“Being able to stay in Salem for this procedure instead of going to Portland is a huge benefit for people throughout Willamette Valley,” says Estrada.

According to him, the new equipment has provided a great deal of satisfaction for the physicians and staff who work with it, as well as for the patients receiving treatment.

“It’s great to be able to offer this level of excellent care and service to heart patients right here in our own community,” says Estrada.