Surgery Expansion Project Reaches Pivotal Phase

posted on: 12/12/2016 1:36:24 PM

Hybrid Operating Room Opens Tuesday

Lima Memorial Health System has a long tradition of innovation. In fact, the hospital performed the region’s very first open-heart surgery in 1997 and has since brought many healthcare advances to the region. Medicine has been rapidly moving away from the maximally invasive open surgery and advancing toward minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures. This week, Lima Memorial will open its doors to a highly specialized hybrid operating room to provide the optimal setting for high-risk patients. These patients will benefit from minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures with the security of surgery back up in the very same room.

Lima Memorial has invested $10 million in this multi-phase surgical expansion project. The initial phases made way for the addition of two new surgical suites and two dedicated robotic rooms. The robotic program at Lima Memorial is among the best in the nation and has been exclusively selected as a designated site for the da Vinci^® Robotic Mentor Program. Surgeons from across the country now come to Lima Memorial to learn from the best. 

Today marks the completion of a key phase, which makes way for the opening of a hybrid operating room. High-risk patients can now undergo a much-needed and common procedure, like catheterization, and if the need arises, a surgeon can immediately operate in the very same room. The hybrid operating room is equipped with a digital imaging system. The 3-D imaging technology is a key differentiator between a hybrid operating room and a regular operating room. This provides high-resolution images of the heart and vascular system in real time, allowing surgeons to open blocked arteries, repair or replace damaged valves, or remove stroke-causing blood clots through catheter-based, rather than open procedures. 

“This technological achievement offers physicians a surgical suite that will dually function as a traditional operating room and a catheterization lab,” stated Mike Swick, Lima Memorial Health System President and CEO. “It will improve surgical quality, patient safety and efficiency. The hybrid operating room suite at Lima Memorial provides physicians with the most sophisticated surgical setting imaginable to perform medical procedures and deliver the best outcomes possible for patients.”