Refurbished angio suite a ‘leap forward’ for patient care at RBWH

The Department of Medical Imaging at RBWH has been significantly enhanced with the completion of a new Angiography Suite 2.

The new angio suite offers a semi-theatre environment for all types of body interventional radiology procedures such as vascular embolisation, selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) and trans arterial chemo embolisation (TACE).

It includes a Philips Azurion Flexi-arm which significantly reduces the need to reposition the table during procedures.

The team at Medical Imaging described the project is not merely an upgrade, but a “leap forward” for patient care at RBWH.

The range and complexity of diseases that can be treated with interventional radiology continues to expand. Correspondingly, the procedures themselves are also becoming more complex, requiring more clinicians from different disciplines to be at the patient’s tableside, working together in a highly coordinated way.

As a result, the clinical team is required to carry out increasingly challenging procedures in a highly constrained environment.

It offers the following improvements for clinical care:

• Significant reduction in repositioning of the patient, staff and equipment, which improves anatomical access during interventional radiology procedures, particularly those which enter the body through the patient’s wrist.
• Radiation dose reduction technologies.
• In trauma patients this system can merge CT scans performed in the Emergency and Trauma Centre with the real time XRay images produced during the angiographic procedure. This technology allows the interventional radiologist to be guided with greater visualisation and accuracy to reduce treatment times and improve patient outcomes. This system is also used to assist in the treatment of tumours via similar techniques and technology.
• The system has a unique capability to produce CT-like imaging to confirm positioning of coils, guidewires, and catheters, thus increasing treatment accuracy.

Interventional Radiologist Dr Nigel Mott said the improved suite will offer huge advantages for both patients and staff.

“The refurbished angiography suite brings us the advantage of increased flexibility in patient access and positioning which can significantly reduce the recovery time for some procedures,” Dr Mott said.

“It combines modern imaging fusion technology which leads to reduced procedure time and radiation exposure to staff and patients, increasing our ability to provide better access to minimally invasive treatment options and innovative new procedures for complex medical and surgical conditions that were previously considered high risk, difficult or unable to be treated.”

The project’s success is attributed to the collaborative efforts of the dedicated project team.

Construction on the project began in October 2023 and the suite opened for patients on 19 February 2024.