New cath lab heartstarter for Far North
DANIEL BATEMAN ONE of the first patients in Cairns Private Hospital’s new state-of-the-art cath lab is relieved she no longer has to travel 1700km for treatment.
Innisfail resident Lesley Elliott required a “tune-up” of her pacemaker, an electrophysiology procedure she would normally have had to travel as far as Brisbane to receive.
“I’ve had to go down by plane or train, but this time, I was able to have it here,” she said. “Now I can just go home the next day.”
The $2.1 million upgraded cath (cardiac catheter) laboratory, which had its very first patient four weeks ago, has been equipped with a GE Healthcare Discovery IGS 730 system, allowing clinicians to treat cardiac and vascular patients using minimally invasive techniques. Clinicians are able to perform advanced procedures not previously offered in the Far North, including electrophysiology and structural heart repairs.
Cairns Private Hospital nurse unit manager Claire Harding said the introduction of the new electrophysiology service would allow for many heart disturbances to be diagnosed and treated in Cairns, for the first time.
“The increasing incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, nationally, and the need to better serve our population have been the drivers behind the introduction of this new service at the hospital,” she said.