Eastern Plumas Health Care is the proud owner of a new C-arm digital x-ray system, and no one is happier about this than the hospital’s Cardiologist, Dr. Milind Dhond. The C-arm utilizes fluoroscopy, a process in which dye is injected into veins or arteries and continuous x-rays are taken “in real time.” Imagine a digital video rather than a digital photograph, which then allows Dhond to watch as blood flows through an artery or vein.
According to Dhond, “This is a high quality C-arm, and it utilizes digital subtraction,” meaning the background can be removed, so that he is only looking at the arteries and veins he wants to see. The digital subtraction C-arm is “very helpful in angioplasty (a procedure that widens an artery in the heart to restore blood flow) and stint replacement,” said Dhond. Essentially, he has a very high quality video of the area in which he is placing a stint or catheter.
The new C-arm has allowed him to resume implanting pacemakers and defibrillators at the hospital. Patient Mary Alvarez recently had a defibrillator inserted using the C-arm. “It was excellent,” she reported. “It didn’t hurt at all, and I was awake the whole time.”
Dhond has also begun performing vein ablations which, in effect, cauterize a diseased vein to seal it shut. This procedure is also much less painful and offers a much quicker recovery time than invasive surgical options.
EPHC has the only digital subtraction C-arm in the county. Its quality rivals that of the system as UC Davis, Dhond said. He was very impressed with Radiology Dept. Manager Mischele Dillon’s ability to locate an affordable unit of this caliber. Dillon, for her part, credited Dhond with letting her know that this imaging system would significantly improve the services he could offer this community.
Once Dillon located an affordable system, the hospital’s Auxiliary stepped in, as it so often does, to pay for the system. “It makes his [Dhond’s] job so much easier,” Dillon said, adding that when Dhond saw how good this C-arm was, “he immediately started to think of other advanced services he’ll be able to offer our community.”