Centre of excellence in critical cardiovascular care

19 May 2017

St John of God Subiaco Hospital is one of few private hospitals in Perth to provide critical cardiovascular care. Highly trained cardiologists, vascular and cardiothoracic surgeons work closely together to provide timely interventions and care for complex patients in state-of-the-art vascular laboratories.

The hospital recently updated the equipment in the Cardiac and Vascular Intervention Laboratories (CVIL) to provide consultants with sharper imaging to detect and diagnose patients’ conditions and optimise their care.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital Head of Department Cardiology Associate Professor Mark Hands said the state-of-the-art equipment and highly skilled team was enabling more high-risk interventions to be undertaken at the hospital that would traditionally have occurred only at a public tertiary care hospital.

“With intensive care, coronary care and chest pain clinics and consultants available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there is the added reassurance that high-level urgent care can be provided if needed,” he said.

“CVIL consists of two angiography suites providing highly defined diagnostic equipment for consultants to undertake investigations and minimally invasive treatment for heart, arterial and venous disorders.”

St John of God Subiaco Hospital Head of Department Vascular Surgery Peter Bray said vascular and endovascular surgeons undertake most of their work in CVIL, as it enables minimally invasive techniques to be utilised for a vast range of vascular diseases, such as endovascular aneurysm repairs, peripheral occlusive disease treatment and carotid stenting where indicated.

“Minimally invasive surgery provides patients with a number of benefits, including reduced mortality and morbidity (no wounds), less recovery time and less pain than traditional open surgery,” Mr Bray said.

“We can undertake more complex endovascular treatment to save patients’ limbs, which is becoming increasingly important as we are seeing more people being diagnosed with diabetes and lifestyle-related conditions.”

Another benefit of the equipment is that it produces low levels of radiation for patients and caregivers.

The two angiography suites include a highly advanced x-ray imaging system for diagnostic and interventional procedures, which provide high flexibility, intuitive user interfaces and a range of advanced interventional tools.

In addition, a 3D cardiac mapping system is used to accurately locate arrhythmias in the heart. Similar to the mapping mechanics of a GPS system, the technology allows cardiologists to accurately navigate their way to each chamber inside the heart to treat difficult arrhythmias.

Once the catheter is inside the heart, the system accurately maps the electrophysiological pathways, allowing the cardiologist to steer the catheter to the exact position needed to treat the arrhythmia with increased safety and efficiency.

CVIL provides cardiac and vascular angiographic diagnosis and intervention and electrophysiology arrhythmia treatment.

St John of God Foundation Chief Executive Officer Nick Harvey said we provide funding to a range of cardiac services such as our current South West and Berwick campaigns - and continue to look forward to supporting other divisions in the cardiac space.