Heart Center

Our cardiologists offer a full range of services in adult cardiology and with our affiliate facility, Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, we offer a pediatric cardiology program and the first pediatric arrhythmia program.

Services include non-invasive and minimally-invasive diagnostic evaluation using procedures such as angiograms, echocardiograms, Holter monitoring, exercise tolerance testing, thallium stress testing and electrophysiology testing.

Straub's cardiovascular team has also led Hawaii in the introduction of minimally invasive surgical procedures which can dramatically lower trauma and discomfort to the patient and shorten recovery time.

Services

Balloon Angioplasty

A special catheter with a small balloon device at its tip may be inflated within a coronary artery to dilate or enlarge a severe narrowing

Balloon Valvuloplasty

A catheter with a balloon at its tip may be inflated within a narrowed heart valve

Coronary Stents

One or more special metal coils are placed within an artery and inflated with a balloon catheter. This will require a special blood thinning regimen to prevent clot formation

Electrophysiology Studies

Studies done to diagnose and assist in the treatment of abnormal heart beats

Pacemakers

A pacemaker is an electronic device used to help regulate the heart rhythm and create an electrical impulse to stimulate the heart to beat.

Transesophageal Echocardiogram

An ultrasound of the heart combined with endoscopy-like procedure, allowing pictures of the heart to be taken from the esophagus. (Endoscopy is the process of inserting a tube down the throat)

Cardiac or Coronary Angiography

Angiography (X ray movies) requires injection of a dye containing iodine (a contrast agent) through the catheter to outline the inside structure of your heart and blood vessels.

Coronary Atherectomy

A special catheter is used to shave off and remove the blockage from a coronary artery

Bronchoscopy
the process of inserting a tube with a camera attached into the lung to examine the lungs.

Surgical Procedures

Minimally-invasive beating-heart surgery

Straub's cardiovascular team pioneered this procedure in Hawaii. Unlike traditional open heart surgery, a small incision is made in the patient's chest rather than the long central incision. In addition, the patient is not put on a heart-lung machine. A heart-lung machine gives oxygen to the blood and pumps the blood through the body while the heart is stopped during surgery. Not having to be connected to the heart lung machine further reduces the trauma to the patient. The surgery is performed while the heart is beating. Recovery from the surgery is much quicker and the reduced trauma makes heart surgery an option for patients who would otherwise not be candidates for the surgery.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)

An artificial tube or a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body is surgically attached to make a new pathway around the blocked part of your artery.

Heart Valve Repair & Replacement

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)

An internal device to treat tachyarrythmias (irregular heart beats)

Pacemakers

A pacemaker is an electronic device used to help regulate the heart rhythm and create an electrical impulse to stimulate the heart to beat.