Cardiac
Echocardiography Cardiologists in echocardiography conduct and analyse ultrasounds of the heart and its blood vessels — assessing their structure, function, and overall performance for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular patients. A cardiologist trained in echocardiography undergoes an additional year of training to properly perform echocardiography procedures and provide accurate and efficient diagnosis and treatment recommendations.
At Royal Jubilee Hospital’s Echocardiography Lab, patients undergo one or more of three echocardiography procedures: regular, stress, and transesophageal echocardiograms. Regular echocardiograms use non-invasive ultrasound-based technology to record images of the heart. Stress echocardiograms compare two echocardiograms, one done before the heart undergoes pharmaceutically or exercise-induced stress, and one done immediately after. In a transesophageal echocardiography, a piece of ultrasound equipment called a transducer is inserted into the esophagus for the most detailed readings possible of cardiovascular performance.
Almost 13,000 echocardiography procedures were performed last year at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Electrophysiology
Electrophysiology (EP) concerns the diagnosis and treatment of complex heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias). A cardiologist trained in electrophysiology undergoes an additional year of training to identify and interpret arrhythmias, and perform electrophysiological tests. If a patient’s heart requires mechanical support, these specialists are trained to properly program, implant, and monitor cardiac devices, including pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).
Clinicians in Royal Jubilee Hospital’s (RJH) Electrophysiology Lab diagnose arrhythmias using an EP study, a non-surgical analysis of the heart’s electrical conduction system. These patients can then be treated with pacemakers, internal cardiac defibrillators (ICDs), and catheter ablation (destruction of abnormal tissue), and more invasive techniques. Our EP Lab is Canada’s leader in the performance of pulmonary vein isolation procedures.
Equipment in this area funded by generous donors supporting The Big Picture campaign:
Cardiac Ultrasound System - Echocardiography (RJH)
Cardiac ultrasounds generate high quality images of the heart for nearly 3,000 patients per year. Cardiologists in echocardiography conduct and analyse ultrasounds of the heart and its blood vessels — assessing their structure, function, and overall performance for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular patients.
Each cardiac ultrasound is used to generate high quality images of the heart for over 2,000 patients at Royal Jubilee Hospital per year.
1 needed @$168,000.
Echocardiography Probe - Electrophysiology (RJH)
Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a test that produces pictures of the heart. These pictures provide critical information during heart surgeries, including repair of heart valves, aortic tears, or lesions, and treatment of endocarditis (infection of the inner lining of the heart chambers and valves). This test can be used to diagnose: an enlarged heart, thickening of the heart walls, heart valve malfunction, infections, and blood clots. It also helps guide physicians during specific procedures of the heart. This is standard of care in most electrophysiology labs around the world: it’s important in ablation treatment for irregular heart rhythms, such as atrial fibrillation ablation, in which the small tissue causing the irregular heart rhythms are destroyed. Our high quality progressive ablation program is dependent on having TEE available.
Over 12,000 echocardiography procedures were performed at Royal Jubilee Hospital last year.
1 needed @$30,000.
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