According to Tracy Martinez, the hospital's professional and support service officer, the lab was completed in May and was undertaken to upgrade an existing clinical interventional radiology suite built in 2012.
“The new equipment will provide state of the art technology allowing advanced IR, vascular and heart catheterization (cath) procedures,” Martinez said. “With this upgrade, Texas Health Alliance will be able to offer urgent clinical care in two highly advanced labs and provide a higher level of collaborative care between cardiologists, vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists.”
Martinez said this room will provide a second cath lab for urgent and elective procedures using the newest technology, an Azurion image-guided therapy system provided by Philips Healthcare. Seven team members operate the lab, but Martinez anticipates adding more staff as the program matures.
Dr. Vincent Chu, who mentioned the new lab at a recent Metroport Chamber meeting, highlighted its need.
“The demand for services in the IR/cardiology/vascular surgery has been steadily increasing, making it difficult to estimate the number of patients it will serve,” Chu said. “However, the growing workload highlights the need for expansion. The addition of a second lab will help meet the needs of the community and ensure that more patients can receive the necessary care efficiently.”
