St. Mary Announces Major Expansion in Cardiology Ca...( With a $30 million investment t...),Health

With a $30 million investment, two new, state-of-the-art cardiac

catheterization labs open in 2008 to serve the community

LANGHORNE, Pa., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Mary Medical Center today announced that it will expand its cardiology services by adding two new, state-of-the-art procedure rooms to its cardiac catheterization labs (cath labs). Currently home to three procedure rooms, St. Mary will invest more than $30 million to make this upgrade to meet the growing healthcare needs of the community. To date, nearly 35,000 procedures (nearly 4,000 procedures annually) have been performed in the cath labs, making the St. Mary cardiology team one of the region's most experienced. Since the cath labs were last expanded in 1999, the service has experienced a greater than 88 percent increase in patient volume.

"The cardiac team at St. Mary has performed many catheterizations and those numbers are expected to increase," notes Director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories Dr. Ronald Fields. "With that being said, experience only goes so far. By adding these new procedure rooms St. Mary is equipping us with the tools we need to complement our collective experience."

Since the addition of a third procedure room in 1999, the St. Mary Medical Center cath labs have experienced more than an 88 percent increase in patient volume. In addition, 93 percent of adults living in Bucks County have at least one cardiac risk factor, suggesting that patient volume will continue to grow in the coming years. To keep pace with this increase in procedures, St. Mary is initiating a multiyear refurbishment of its cardiac catheterization capabilities. In addition to increasing the availability of time slots in the lab that leads to shorter wait times for procedures, the expansion efforts allow St. Mary to expand its technological offerings.

"We have a talented staff at St. Mary Medical Center, and the availability of state-of-the-art facilitie
'/>"/>