The Heart Station, located at the University of Rochester Medical Center, provides routine electrocardiograms (ECGs), exercise tolerance testing, and 24 hour ambulatory rhythm monitoring (Holter) capabilities for both in-patients and out-patients.  Also, transtelephonic ECG monitoring is done of outpatients with arrhythmia, pacemaker or implanted defibrillators.

Under the direction of Dr. Toshio Akiyama the Heart station is one of the focal points of non-invasive diagnostic testing within the cardiology unit. "The stress test is an extremely safe procedure which can provide a wealth of information regarding a particular patient," says Dr. Akiyama. "We can use it to monitor drug therapy, assess exercise related symptoms, evaluate our patients' progress in rehabilitation as well as help to sort out a host of diagnostic dilemmas." Occasionally this means pushing a patient to a level of exercise they might not ordinarily achieve on their own, but most patients are pleasantly surprised at just how much they are able to do.

In addition, the Heart Station provides official readings for the over 150 EKG's done in the hospital each day. "Many physicians need EKG's read stat because the patient is in their office with a problem or they are on their way to emergency surgery," says Laura Butler, administrator in charge of the Heart Station. We provide rapid service to the hospital and our referring physicians" says Ms. Butler, Administrator of the Heart Station.  In March 2005, a new state of the art 'web' based ECG management system was installed.  This system will allow us to collect ECGs from the many off-site areas, and have them interpreted and available for web viewing in most cases within 24 hours.

Holter/Event Monitoring

The Holter monitor is well known to many laymen. The "little tape recorder" records every heart beat for a 24 hour period in the search for rhythm problems. These digital recorders are now the size of a pager and weigh ounces instead of pounds.  Our expert Holter technicians Grace Ansini and Rob Ferris have many years of experience scanning and interpreting these recordings. As the demand has continued to grow, new staff have been added and new, state of the art scanners have been acquired. In addition, the use of event recorders, which are activated by patients when they have symptoms of irregular heartbeats have been a welcome addition to the array of devices available to diagnose cardiac rhythm problems. "By allowing patients to take these devices home and keep them for up to a month, we now have a much better chance of capturing the cause of the arrhythmia, especially if it is not happening on a regular basis," says Ms Butler.

• ECG: New web based Tracemaster Vue System to be installed March 2005, password protected web access for MDs to nearly one million ECGs from Strong Memorial Hospital, and Highland Hospital, records dating back to 1986.  ECGs are also downloaded to the SMH Clinical Information System upon interpretation
• HOLTER: Over 50 Holter recorders are available for use at SMH, SCA, and Pediatric Cardiology, including over 25 of the newest digital models that are the size of a pager and capable of performing continuous 48 hour recordings.
• PACEMAKER/EVENT MONITORING: Fully computerized system for the scheduling and storage of routine trans-telephonic pacemaker followup and 30-day event monitoring.

Annual Volumes

• ECGs- 55,000 per year; Holters -1800 per year; Treadmill- 1000 per year; Pacemaker/Event Monitoring- 6500 calls per year