{"id":267152,"date":"2026-01-31T13:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267152\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:20:10","slug":"new-technology-reduces-wait-times-for-ruh-cardiac-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267152\/","title":{"rendered":"New technology reduces wait times for RUH cardiac patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upgrades at Saskatoon\u2019s Royal University Hospital (RUH) are already cutting down wait times for patients with heart problems.<\/p>\n

As part of the end of last year\u2019s renovations, the newly named Walter and Margaret McNabb Interventional Cardiology Suite had its aging equipment replaced with modern technology for the diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening cardiac conditions.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/p>\n

It was a project two years in the making.<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s only been fully operational for a short period, interventional cardiologist and division lead of cardiology at RUH, Dr. Jason Orvold, said it\u2019s \u201cdramatically\u201d changed patients\u2019 access to care, \u201cwhich has reduced wait times.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, with the previous equipment Dr. Orvold said he, \u201cwas only able to do one artery at a time, do one stent at a time and then we\u2019d have to wait six weeks and do another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was in part because the older technology limited what he was able to do in a procedure and also imposed safety constraints, like X-ray exposure.<\/p>\n

But now, Dr. Orvold said he \u201cwas able to fix three arteries in one setting and the patient was able to go home the same day, because I could do it through a small incision in the wrist compared to what we did before.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another example, Dr. Orvold talked about the electrophysiology lab, saying prior to the renovations the lab could only do two cases a day, but now that number\u2019s grown to five.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s more than doubled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Jason Orvold, an interventional cardiologist and division lead of cardiology at RUH, said the renovations have \u201cdramatically changed the patient journey.\u201d (Marija Robinson\/650 CKOM)<\/p>\n

Upgraded technology<\/p>\n

Walking through some of the technology that\u2019s shortening the wait times, cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Chris Pekrul spoke about the fluoroscopy X-ray camera.<\/p>\n

It provides a \u201cperfect visualization of the heart and enables me to do that with low doses of radiation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Having less radiation lowers the risk and makes procedures \u201cmuch safer\u201d for patients and the team, according to Dr. Pekrul.<\/p>\n

Without this camera and the other new technology \u201cand without having the integration of the technology that complements itself, we\u2019re always hindered to do the next thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s able to do the gamut of procedures, ranging from the common ones to the more sophisticated \u2013 more quickly and safely.<\/p>\n

The benefits extend beyond the patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of what we have to do \u2026 is balance our wait list and try to find the best people, the most appropriate people, that need to come and it\u2019s a difficult decision,\u201d Dr. Pekrul said.<\/p>\n

But, with less people waiting for care, \u201cthat burden, at least in part, is alleviated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shorter, but not short wait lists <\/p>\n

Even though wait times have been reduced, it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re short now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait times are still high,\u201d Dr. Orvold said.<\/p>\n

While the technology has helped reduce the length of procedures, the other side of having these advancements, is that doctors have the tools to recognize in more people when care is required.<\/p>\n

But, though the list of patients continues to grow, Dr. Orvold said wait times have noticeably improved since he began working \u2013 lowering from one year down to two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaiting two months instead of a year to restart your life means a big difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Upgrades at Saskatoon\u2019s Royal University Hospital (RUH) are already cutting down wait times for patients with heart problems.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-267152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}