What is dementia?

Dementia is a brain condition characterized by a decline in thinking skills severe enough to impair a person’s daily life and independence. 

Dementia is not a single disease. Rather, it’s an umbrella term — like heart disease — that covers a wide range of medical conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases. There are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.

What are the symptoms of dementia?

Symptoms of dementia can vary greatly, but you or your loved one may:

• Have difficulty keeping track of everyday items, such as a purse or wallet

• Be confused about where you are, or what day or year it is

• Show poor judgement

• Have mood or personality changes

Many dementias are progressive, which means symptoms start out mild and gradually get worse. If you or someone you know is experiencing memory difficulties or other changes in thinking ability, don’t ignore them. Contact your health care provider soon to determine the cause. Early detection of dementia allows patients to get the maximum benefit from the latest treatments.

Dementia care at St. Charles

There is no test to determine if someone has dementia. At St. Charles, our neurological care team diagnoses Alzheimer's and other types of dementia with a high degree of certainty based on a careful medical history, a physical examination, laboratory tests and changes in thinking and behavior. 

While there is no cure and no treatment that slows or stops the progression of dementia, there are drug treatments that may temporarily improve symptoms. The same medications used to treat Alzheimer's are sometimes prescribed to help with symptoms of other types of dementia. Non-drug therapies can also alleviate some symptoms of dementia.

What can I do to prevent dementia?

Some risk factors for dementia, such as age and genetics, cannot be changed. However, the latest research findings suggest that a combination of healthy lifestyle choices -- including healthy diet, not smoking, regular exercise and mental stimulation -- may decrease your risk.

The St. Charles Health System Neurodiagnostics Lab provides a wide range of services aimed at evaluating and monitoring nervous system function and diagnosing neurological disorders. We serve patients who have suffered strokes as well as those with other neurological conditions and diseases including epilepsy, brain tumors and dementia.

Neurodiagnostic Services

We offer convenient access to many neurodiagnostic procedures including:

• Electroencephalogram (EEG)
• Long-term monitoring
• Intraoperative neuromonitoring
• Evoked potential studies

Our Neurodiagnostics Team

Patients need to be referred to our lab by their physician for monitoring and testing. Once here, they remain in good hands: Our staff include five registered EEG technologists trained to understand neurophysiology and recognize normal and abnormal electrical activity. They act as eyes and ears for the neurologists, who later review and interpret the data.

Our staff credentials also include:

• American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologist
• Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists
• Certified Neurophysiologic IntraOperative Monitoring Technologist

The EEG technologists prepare patients for procedures, obtain medical histories, record electrical potentials and calculate the results. In addition, they provide comfort and quality care to patients whether their neurodiagnostics procedure takes 20 minutes or several hours.

Upon arriving at our hospitals, you’ll be greeted by a Guest Services host or a volunteer who will guide you around our facilities.

• Guest Services host hours by location
• Information and documents needed for admission
• Items to bring from home for your comfort

Guest Services hosts are available:

St. Charles Bend

Main Entrance: 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday 
Main Entrance: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 
Outpatient Surgery/MDU: 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday 
Heart Center: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday

St. Charles Redmond

4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday 
9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Volunteers also staff the information desks at our hospitals throughout the day, and are available to greet patients, answer questions and provide assistance.

Now at St. Charles Bend, Mako robotic-arm surgical technology brings a higher level of precision to joint replacement and gives patients more options as they are considering surgery. By targeting only the part of the knee damaged by osteoarthritis, surgeons using Mako can resurface your knee while sparing the bone and healthy ligaments around it. For total hip replacement, Mako technology uses patient-specific, CT-guided imagery to determine implant size and alignment within a tenth of a millimeter.

Watch this video testimonial from some of our Mako patients.

Benefits of Mako partial knee replacement

• Faster recovery and shorter hospital stay than traditional knee replacement surgery (in some cases, the surgery is an outpatient procedure)
• Allows the surgeon to remove less bone and more precisely place the implant
• Less implant wear, resulting in a longer implant lifetime
• Minimally invasive surgery with a smaller incision, resulting in less scarring and reduced blood loss

Benefits of Mako total hip replacement

• Precision placement of your hip implant, which can reduce the likelihood of hip dislocation
• More consistency in leg length, potentially decreasing the need for a shoe lift
• Improved lifetime of the implant due to reduced risk of the implant and bone abnormally rubbing together

All surgeries involve risk of complications. Before you decide on surgery, discuss treatment options with your doctor.

The orthopedic specialists at St. Charles Health System provide the latest treatments in hand and foot surgery in Central Oregon. When it comes to your hand or wrist, the smallest injury or problem can be disabling. No matter the cause of your pain — ligaments, nerves, tendons, muscles or bones — find the help you need here for a variety of conditions:

• Trigger finger
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Traumatic injury
• Arthritis
• Tendonitis
• Fractures
• Sports injuries

When it comes to foot pain, people often don’t realize how much stress and abuse the feet take on a daily basis. Here are some of the conditions that may be helped by foot surgery at St. Charles:

• Hammer toe
• Heel pain
• Bone spurs
• Flat feet
• Plantar fasciitis
• Fractures

Trust the orthopedic specialists at St. Charles Health System

The orthopedic program at St. Charles Health System has been recognized as one of the best in the nation by major health care surveys. Our wide range of treatment options in Central Oregon include surgery, physical therapy and orthotics. Talk to your orthopedic specialist today if you feel hand or foot surgery may be right for you.

St. Charles Health System provides hand and foot surgery in Bend, Oregon.

Treating carpal tunnel syndrome in Central Oregon

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful affliction of the wrist.

Women get carpal tunnel syndrome three times more often than men, and it usually occurs only in adults. Do you have any of these symptoms? If so, it's likely you have carpal tunnel syndrome.

• Weakness when gripping objects with one or both hands
• Pain or numbness in one or both hands
• "Pins and needles" feeling in the fingers
• Swollen feeling in the fingers
• Burning or tingling in the fingers, especially the thumb and the index and middle fingers
• Pain or numbness in your hands that is worse at night

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?

If you look at your wrist with your palm facing up, the carpal tunnel is an opening in your wrist that is formed by the carpal bones on the inside of the wrist and the carpal ligament across the top of the wrist. There is a nerve that passes through the tunnel called the median nerve, which provides sensory and motor functions to the thumb and three middle fingers. When the median nerve is compressed and/or irritated as it passes through the carpal tunnel, you may have symptoms like those described above.

Any or all of the following may be a contributing factor:

• Frequent, repetitive, small movements with the hands (such as with typing or using a keyboard)
• Frequent, repetitive, grasping movements with the hands (such as with sports and certain physical activities)
• Joint or bone disease (such as arthritis, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis)
• Hormonal or metabolic changes (such as menopause, pregnancy or thyroid imbalance)
• Changes in blood sugar levels (may be seen with type 2 diabetes)
• Other conditions or injuries of the wrist (such as strain, sprain, dislocation, break or swelling and inflammation)
• Family history of carpal tunnel syndrome

How is carpal tunnel syndrome treated?

Treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome may include:

• Splinting your hand. This helps keep your wrist from moving. It also eases the compression of the nerves inside the tunnel.
• Anti-inflammatory medication. These may be oral or injected into the carpal tunnel space. These reduce the swelling.
• Surgery. This eases compression on the nerves in the carpal tunnel.
• Work site changes. Changing position of your computer keyboard or making other ergonomic changes can help ease symptoms.
• Exercise. Stretching and strengthening exercises can be helpful in people whose symptoms have gotten better. These exercises may be supervised by a physical or occupational therapist.

Surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome

The surgery is called “carpal tunnel release” and it is one of the most common surgeries in the United States.

This surgery is usually an outpatient procedure. There are two types of carpal tunnel surgery: open surgery and endoscopic surgery. Open surgery is traditional surgery, whereas endoscopic surgery is minimally invasive and uses instruments inserted into small incisions.

Very simply, in both surgeries the tissue (the carpal ligament) that is pressing on the nerve is cut, relieving the pressure.

Want to know more about our neurology services? Call us today at 541-388-4333.

St. Charles Health System partners with providers who are leaders in treating carpal tunnel syndrome in Central Oregon.

Are you a candidate for back or neck surgery?

It’s a major decision to have back or neck surgery. St. Charles Health System in Central Oregon is here to help you make the best choice. Basically, it comes down to weighing the relief against the risks. Back or neck surgery can have many benefits, especially if you’re suffering with the pain of bulging or herniated disks. The most important thing is that you should spend a lot of time talking to your doctor before you make a decision and consider everything before you conclude surgery is the best option.

Have you tried all your options?

Treatments for back pain depend entirely on the cause. In many cases, you can manage back pain with simple conservative treatments like rest, back bracing, physical therapy and various types of medicines. If you’ve taken all these measures and nothing has helped, surgery may be your next step.

Which surgery is right for you?

There are many different types of spine and neck surgery, including laser and minimally invasive techniques. Advancements in technology provide better success with repairing or healing a hurting back or neck. Spine surgery can include a number of options:

• Laminectomy – Certain conditions of the spine can compress the spinal cord and cause pain. A laminectomy opens up your spinal canal to relieve pressure on spinal nerves.
• Vertebroplasty –An acrylic cement mixture is injected into the fractured vertebra. The cement mixture fills in and strengthens the fractured vertebra to relieve pain.
• Spinal fusion –Two vertebrae in the spine or neck are joined using a bone graft. This permanently stops movement between the vertebrae. Although you may notice some loss of mobility, spinal fusion can be a major success in treating a number of spinal conditions and diseases.

Recovery after spine surgery

Some spine surgeries are short and only require a night in the hospital, but others can take hours and require days and weeks in the hospital or a rehabilitation center. At St. Charles Health System, we know what to expect from each type of spine surgery, and are ready with the specialists to get you on the path to feeling great again.

To determine if spinal surgery is right for you, talk to your specialist today.

The team of physicians and specialists at St. Charles have long been recognized as leaders in treating back and neck problems with surgery in Central Oregon.

Diagnosing heart issues through interventional cardiology

Thanks to advances in medical technology over the years and an ongoing commitment to incorporating into their practices minimally invasive methods that reduce the need for open surgery, interventional cardiologists at St. Charles Heart and Lung Center offer patients throughout Central Oregon wide-ranging treatments for a variety of cardiovascular conditions.

Interventional cardiology’s main goal is to reduce or manage coronary artery blockage, prevent heart attacks, repair heart valves and treat vascular problems in areas such as the legs and other locations away from the heart.

Angiograms, angioplasty and more at St. Charles Heart and Lung Center

St. Charles interventional cardiologists perform most of their procedures in a cardiac catheterization lab, where they numb an incision site in the groin or arm with local anesthetic, then thread a catheter to the problem area — most often the heart, its coronary arteries and carotid arteries. Due to the minimally invasive nature of these procedures, doctors keep patients comfortable using mild sedatives rather than general anesthesia. Some of the more common procedures performed at St. Charles are:

• Angiography — doctors inject dye into an artery to obtain blood vessel images that can help them determine if there may be narrowing, blockage or disease
• Angioplasty and stenting — inflating a small balloon, then inserting a small flexible stent (usually made of plastic or wire mesh) to hold open blocked or narrowed arteries and restore proper blood flow
• Atherectomy — a tiny blade attached to the catheter is used to shave plaque from inside the artery
• Balloon valvuloplasty — as in angioplasty, doctors use a balloon to enlarge a stiff or narrowed heart valve
• Biopsy — doctors insert a small needle into an abnormal area to collect a heart tissue sample so a pathologist can evaluate it
• Intravascular ultrasound — uses sound waves to generate images of blood vessels and blood flow
• Radiofrequency ablation — uses radio waves, which are painless, to destroy clusters of cells that are causing arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythm)
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) — a minimally invasive procedure that wedges a replacement valve into the aortic valve’s space without removing the faulty valve

Heart and vascular disease treatment excellence

St. Charles Heart and Lung Center’s interventional cardiologists are proud to be at the forefront in offering minimally invasive cardiovascular treatment options to patients in this region. The benefits of this approach include reduced recovery time and less pain than traditional open surgery procedures.

For more information, or to schedule an appointment, contact us at 541-388-4333 today.

From angiograms to TAVR procedures, the St. Charles Heart and Lung Center offers Central Oregon a wide range of interventional cardiology services.

What are pacemakers?

A pacemaker is a tiny battery-powered device that keeps your heart beating in a regular rhythm. It works by sensing when your heart has lost a regular or healthy rhythm by measuring the electrical impulses your heart is producing. The heart’s natural pacemaker is called the sinus node. It’s a grouping of cells in the upper chamber of the heart that produces electrical impulses that cause your heart to beat. When those cells aren’t functioning properly, your heartbeat could become too fast, too slow or irregular. Problems can also occur because of a disconnect in your heart’s natural electrical pathways. When an irregularity is sensed, the artificial pacemaker comes into play by shocking the heart back into its regular rhythm.

How does a pacemaker work?

Most of us know that when a person’s heart stops suddenly in cardiac arrest, it can be restarted with the use of a defibrillator or more frequently known as an AED. They have become very common in exercise facilities and sports venues all across the country. They save lives by creating a strong electrical shock that restarts the heart. A pacemaker works the same way, except it is often implanted in your chest.

Who can be helped by a pacemaker? For people who have suffered heart damage from heart attack or recurrent arrhythmias caused by coronary disease, a pacemaker may be the only solution to ensure their heart keeps beating. A pacemaker, also known as an ICD or implantable cardioverter defibrillator, works by continuously monitoring your heart and its electrical system. If an arrhythmia starts to occur, the pacemaker shocks the heart and resets it to a normal heartbeat.

If you think or have been told by a doctor that you may need a pacemaker, don’t wait. Please consult your primary care doctor right away.

In Central Oregon, the specialists at the St. Charles Heart and Lung Center strive to help people with artificial pacemakers lead normal, healthy and happy lives.

What are the most common heart attack signs and symptoms?

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. It may feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, ear or stomach. Cold sweat, nausea/upset stomach, dizziness, weakness or lightheadedness.
• Feelings of impending death.
• Shortness of breath, weakness, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain. (Women are somewhat more likely than men to experience these symptoms.)
• Diabetics will often present without the classic signs outlined above and are often likely to experience the other common symptoms.

What do I do if I experience these symptoms?

If you think you may be having a heart attack, don’t wait — call 911. Uncertainty is normal, but taking a "wait and see" approach can cost you valuable time to save your heart and your life. Even if you're not sure it's a heart attack, have your symptoms checked out. Minutes matter and fast action can save a life. Patient delay is the biggest cause of not getting rapid care for heart attacks. If you are experiencing heart attack symptoms:

• DIAL 911 and follow the emergency operator's instructions.
• CHEW one adult aspirin.
• SIT OR LIE DOWN until medical help arrives.

What is a heart attack?

Blood is supplied to the heart through its coronary arteries. Over a lifetime, plaques or fatty substances gradually build up inside the walls of the arteries, leading to coronary heart disease (CHD). As CHD narrows the arteries, the flow of blood through the arteries is reduced. If a clot breaks loose and suddenly cuts off most or all of the blood supply to the heart, you're having a heart attack.

Cells in the heart muscle that do not receive enough oxygenated blood begin to die. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart.

Why call 911?

• To be most effective, common heart attack treatments must be given within one hour of the onset of symptoms. Calling 9-1-1 is almost always the fastest way to receive lifesaving treatment.
• Emergency medical services (EMS) staff can begin treatment when they arrive — up to an hour sooner than if someone gets to the hospital by car. They have training and equipment that can be effective in reversing cardiac arrest.
• EMS providers can alert the hospital that a heart patient is coming in for treatment, which means a team is assembled and ready to help you by the time you arrive. They are also trained to take you to the hospital that has the services that your symptoms require.
• EMS staff members are trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped.
• Patients with chest pain who arrive by ambulance usually receive faster treatment at the hospital and can avoid the intake process.
• If you are experiencing heart attack symptoms, it's extremely unsafe to drive or be a passenger in a car in case you lose consciousness.

What can happen if I do not receive rapid treatment?

• Each year, 1.1 million Americans suffer heart attacks. About 460,000 of those heart attacks are fatal, frequently because a patient did not seek medical treatment immediately.
• Waiting 30 minutes to seek help after the onset of symptoms of a STEMI heart attack (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction) leads to a 10 percent loss of heart muscle. Waiting 60 minutes is 30 percent and six hours means you'll lose 90 percent of your heart muscle to oxygen deprivation.
• It is best to call EMS for rapid transport to the emergency room.