After two years of planning and nearly a year of renovations, Cath Lab Room 1 is now officially reopened. Interventional cardiologists Dr. Ellis, Dr. Koo and Dr. Wickramasinghe joined cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Patel, CNO Janet Leatherwood, cath lab director Emily McAfee, cath lab manager Jena Trahan, cath lab RNs and technologists, heart center RNs and others from the hospital for the celebration.
The new Philips Azurion Biplane x-ray system was the most significant upgrade. With this new x-ray system, we now have improved image quality with lower radiation exposure for our providers, staff and patients. This room is primarily used for EP cases but can easily transition into a cath lab set up as well. Another upgrade for the room was video integration with Storz. By adding this feature, the room offers 4K video and seamless transitions between a variety of imaging technology and mapping systems used during EP procedures. The booms in this room were also upgraded with streamlined designs to allow more space in the procedure room for staff and our anesthesia providers. In addition to additional space, we were able to integrate additional EP equipment that was previously housed on portable carts which allows for a more efficient set up for these specialized procedures.
HMSL currently offers three different EP mapping systems. The previous workflow required staff to bring in the equipment and make numerous cable and data connections based on procedure and provider requests. The room set up could take up to 45 minutes if changing out systems and required specialized knowledge to perform. Now, staff can easily transition between these systems. A lot of this design occurred with one of our Lead Technologists (John Boykin) working specifically with the integration teams and Dr. Patel.
Dr. Wickramasinghe performed the first angiogram in this new room and Dr. Patel performed the first EP procedure.
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