Just over four years ago, the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration network (WWLHIN) named Guelph General Hospital (GGH) as the lead hospital for providing vascular surgery.
Now, GGH is set to open a brand new operating room specifically designed to perform minimally-invasive vascular surgery.
The room is a combination operating room and x-ray suite. It allows surgeons such as Dr. Hamid Nasser, GGH’s Chief of Surgery, to see inside a patient while performing key-hole-type vascular surgery. One example is the placing of a stent to open a blocked artery.
“Before minimally-invasive vascular surgery, it used to be a big operation and we’d have to cut open patients through their abdomen,” explains Dr. Nasser. “They’d be in hospital for seven days and it’d take them two to three months to recover.”
With minimally-invasive surgery, the stent is inserted into an artery or vein through a small incision and its placement is guided by the surgeon referring to images produced in real time by a fluoroscope (x-ray machine).
“Patients are happy because they don’t have to stay in the hospital too long,” Dr. Nasser said. “They can quickly go back to their normal regular activities.”
The new OR was built with a $2.2 million grant from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and $400,000 from the Hospital’s capital fund. The new high tech equipment cost $1.6 million and was purchased from money raised by GGH Foundation’s MRI and More campaign.
“The integration of vascular surgery is an example of what can happen when all of the stakeholders work together and base decisions on evidence and best practice,” said Eileen Bain, VP Patient Services and Chief Nursing Executive.
“I’d like to thank all of our staff who have worked so hard on this project. In the end, it’s the patients who benefit the most.”
For more information, contact Perry Hagerman, Communications Specialist, at 837-6440 ext. 2774.
