The Detroit Medical Center has opened a $2.4-million, state-of-the-art, hybrid cardiac catheterization lab at the DMC Heart Hospital in Detroit, part of a $4.1-million investment in cardiac care for patients in southeast Michigan.
The expected activation in mid-February of the hybrid procedure area off Mack Avenue in Detroit comes on the heels of the opening of a $1.7-million hybrid catheterization lab at DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township in November.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Michigan and across the United States, and we have the fifth-highest death rate from heart disease out of all of the 50 states,” says Brittany Lavis, CEO of DMC. “But hybrid cath labs like this — and the cardiologists, nurses, technicians, and other team members that work in them — save and improve lives.”
Together, the new heart hybrid catheterization labs, or cath labs, offer cutting-edge imaging and technology for minimally invasive cardiac procedures and testing, while offering the flexibility to flip to an operating room for open heart surgery, if needed.
“From TAVR to percutaneous coronary interventions and other vascular procedures, this allows expert cardiologists a convenient, well-equipped space to work in and provide the advanced care that everyone deserves,” says Dr. Chadi Alraies, director of DMC Heart Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.
A traditional cardiology cath lab offers x-ray and imaging technology necessary to perform minimally invasive procedures like transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), when an interventional cardiologist weaves a small tube or catheter through blood vessels and into the heart to insert a new valve.
Cath labs are also where interventional cardiologists perform percutaneous coronary interventions, or PCI, by using catheters to insert stents into blood vessels narrowed by buildup.
The key to a hybrid lab is the ability to quickly switch to an open heart procedure, if a cardiac team determines that would be a better option. Previously, that would require moving the patient to a separate operating room.
“As a cardiac surgeon for many years, I have seen the difference time, technology and teamwork make when someone is having a heart attack or cardiac-related event,” says Dr. Kenton Zehr, Executive Director of the Cardiovascular Service Line at DMC. “The advent of cath lab technology and this hybrid cath lab in particular provides an opportunity for minimally invasive interventions, while providing the comfort of access to cardiovascular surgery if needed. We’re better together.”
Last year, the cath lab teams at DMC Heart Hospital, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, and DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital provided care through more than 6,000 cardiac cath lab procedures and interventions for patients from across southeast Michigan, says Dr. Luis Afonso, chief of cardiology for Detroit Medical Center.
Most of the procedures at DMC Sinai-Grace are diagnostic, with structural heart procedures performed at the DMC Heart Hospital.
“When someone’s mother, father, grandmother, uncle, neighbor, or friend is coming through our doors at DMC, they can know that they are walking into centers that care,” says Afonso. “Today we celebrate this newly renovated Cath Lab, which adds the latest technology to our ability to care for patients throughout Detroit and the metro region. We are a community built on care.”
For more information, visit DMC.org/heart.
