Nearly a year ago, Northern Arizona Healthcare invested more than $1 million to expand and upgrade the interventional radiology suite at Flagstaff Medical Center with state-of-the-art imaging equipment.
With a ceiling-mounted monitor and the ability to rotate 360 degrees while taking live x-rays, the new machine produces highly detailed images of patients’ blood vessels during diagnostic and treatment procedures, enabling physicians to:
- Guide wires and catheters through the patient’s vessels with ease.
- Conduct exams with lower doses of radiation, which is safer for the patients and staff.
- Import other images into the current exam interface for comparison.
- Integrate real-time ultrasound and tomographic images into the display for faster, more accurate diagnoses.
In addition, the machine enables radiologists to perform chemoembolization and radioembolization to treat metastatic liver cancer or primary tumors in the liver, using a minimally invasive technique. This procedure releases radiation or chemotherapy more slowly, over time, which means patients experience fewer side effects.
The suite was also upgraded with a sophisticated anesthesia delivery system featuring a supply unit in the ceiling. Gas flows through movable tubes, which gives the care team greater flexibility to work together on the patient without getting in each other’s way.
FMC was one of the first hospitals in the country to install the equipment and our team participated in the first training offered by the manufacturer.
Liz Palomino, NAH Medical Imaging Services director