New Angiographic Suite Opens at St. Luke's

Cardiologists, radiologists, surgeons, and cardiovascular anesthesiologists have teamed with cath lab and operating room staff to offer patients multidisciplinary expertise in the newly opened intravascular interventional procedure suite in the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital cardiac catheterization laboratories.

"Recently, Drs. Zvonimir Kracjer, Mark Skolkin, and Charles Hallman all worked concurrently on a patient in this room," reports Dave Helfer, vice president at St. Luke's. "They performed a complicated research protocol - with images of it broadcast via fiber and microwave to an audience of more than 200 attending the 4th Annual Texas Heart Institute/St. Luke's Peripheral Vascular Symposium."

According to Dr. Neil Strickman, cardiologist, a range of peripheral vascular procedures will be performed in the new suite, including new interventions for the carotid artery, abdominal aorta, and dilating the iliac and femoral arteries. The new procedure room is somewhat larger than typical cath labs, equipped with sophisticated digital radiographic equipment, and built to exacting operating room standards. One of its advantages is its adaptability for a range of interventions requiring a multidisciplinary, collaborative team.

Such collaboration permits clinicians to bring their individual knowledge and strengths to the care of patients. It also eliminates the need to move patients whose peripheral vascular procedures require emergency vascular surgery. Not only is crucial time saved, but time and costs are saved in avoiding reset-up and re-prepping in the operating room.

The planning that made possible this multidisciplinary success consumed more than a year and required resources throughout the hospital. Calling the facility "an OR with radiographic capability," Dr. Hallman credits early success to solid collaboration among the several clinical services and nursing and other staff.

Helfer compliments the group that implemented room development - from hospital architects, builders, and vendors to infection control, biomedical engineering, and OR staff. n

- Written by St. Luke's Department of Corporate Communications

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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