PeaceHealth | Southwest health | Fall 2016

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Anewdevice is
changing lives
“ MY MOTHER DI ED FROM A STROKE at a very
young age,” says David Struthers, 63, of Vancouver. “She was
a loving and intelligent mom, and it’s sad that my kids never
had the chance to know her.”
When David was confronted by his own life-threatening
health issues, he decided to undergo an innovative cardiac
procedure to improve his odds of surviving to care for his own
family. He was the first person in the greater Portland-Vancouver
area to receive the newWatchman® cardiac device, implanted
by James Reiss, MD, at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
Stopping clots at the source
“This is a tremendous advancement in the treatment of atrial
fibrillation,” says Jonathan Lowy, MD, an electrophysiologist
and cardiologist at PeaceHealth Southwest. “It offers patients,
for the first time, a treatment to prevent stroke that does not
require the long-term use of blood-thinning medications.”
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common abnormal heart rhythm.
During AF, the upper chambers of the heart beat rapidly—300
to 400 beats per minute—and a pouch on the heart’s left upper
chamber, called the left atrial appendage, doesn’t have time to
squeeze out the blood. The blood can pool in the appendage and
form a clot, which can travel to the brain and cause a stroke.
Medications called anticoagulants or blood thinners are
used to make it harder to form a blood clot in the pouch. But
they also thin the blood throughout the body, which increases
the risk of internal bleeding—including in the brain.
There is now an alternative, for some patients. TheWatchman
device—about the size of a quarter—is implanted in the left atrial
appendage in a minimally invasive procedure through a blood
vessel in the leg. This seals the pouch off from the circulation,
thus protecting from stroke without the risk of bleeding. Patients
recover quickly and usually only need an overnight hospital stay.
Human touch,
robotic precision
YOUR KNE ES OR YOUR H I P may have been giving
you trouble. Your doctor has had a look at it, and the
diagnosis was osteoarthritis (OA).
You may be a candidate for MAKO—a robotic arm-assisted
procedure designed to relieve pain and restore range of
motion. MAKO® is an innovative treatment option that allows
your surgeon to customize the procedure for your unique
anatomy and increase accuracy to optimize surgical results.
How does it work?
Using real-time information and images of your joint, your
surgeon controls accurate implant placement for the hip or
can resurface your knee while sparing the healthy bone and
ligaments surrounding it, which can be difficult to achieve
with traditional techniques without a robotic arm.
What are the benefits?
■ ■This procedure enables surgeons to personalize implant
placement to achieve optimal results.
■ ■For total hip replacement, the MAKO procedure offers
a more accurate cup placement and accurate leg length,
potentially decreasing the need for a shoe lift.
■ ■MAKO allows for partial knee resurfacing for adults living
with early- to midstage osteoarthritis that has not progressed
to all three compartments of the knee.
■ ■It is less invasive than traditional total knee surgery.
■ ■It allows the surgeon to resurface the diseased portion of
the knee, sparing the healthy bone and surrounding tissue.
■ ■Since healthy bone is preserved, patients may still be
candidates for a total knee replacement procedure later.
Health news
Discuss all treatment options with your
doctor to determine which is best for you.
To learn more, watch a video about this
procedure at
jointjourney . Learn more at
Jonathan Lowy, MD
Cardiac Electrophysiology
PeaceHealth Southwest
Heart & Vascular Center
200 NE Mother Joseph
Place, Suite 400
Vancouver, WA
360-514-4444
Todd Borus, MD
Orthopedic Surgery
Rebound Orthopedics
200 NE Mother Joseph
Place, Suite 210
Vancouver, WA
360-254-6161
P A T I E N T P R O F I L E
TALK WITH A DOCTOR!
Hip and Knee
Arthritis: How to
Manage Pain
When: Wednesday, Sept. 14,
6 to 8 p.m.
Where: PeaceHealth Southwest’s
Health Education Center
Info: Presented by Michael
Fleischman, DO, of The
Vancouver Clinic.
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