The cardiac specialists at LeConte Medical Center got their first look Monday at a state-of-the-art Toshiba imaging machine that will allow them to peer inside patients' circulatory systems. The installation made the hospital the first in the region to become home to a system rated tops by MD Buyline, a firm dedicated to evaluating medical technology.
The machinery is a huge step forward from some that had been in use there since 1991, said Dr. Kevin Kingery, cardiovascular coordinator at LeConte.
"This is a much better machine that will really give us a far better detail in the studies we do, which will help us in treating patients," Kingery said. "The best way to equate it to something most folks would understand is it's like going from regular cable to HD."
The system uses radiography, much like an X-ray, to produce an image of a patient's circulatory system. With that, doctors can find blockages or weak spots, identify issues with the heart and keep up with how effective earlier procedures have been. But the old machinery could do all that, so what's the big deal with the new one?
Dr. Norman Liddell, director of cardiac rehabilitation, said it's about those clearer pictures Kingery raved about. That will make it easier for doctors to find the problem areas and may even allow them to see ones they couldn't earlier.
"This is a much better diagnostic tool for us," he said as he watched some of his colleagues experiment with the system. "This will image the vessels of the whole body, essentially. We will use it for angioplasties and putting in pacemakers. It will be used to identify blockages in the arteries and peripheral arteries. It opens up a lot of possibilities for us."
Besides just producing clearer pictures, the imaging is amazing because it can show more of what's going on without the patient or the camera having to move.
"We can now get six views of the body from maybe two shots where it used to take us six shots to get six views," Kingery said. "The unit can also move around the patient, so if the patient is laying with his arms out, he doesn't have to bring them in to his body anymore like he used to for us to be able to get a look at those radial areas."
To break that down into laymans' terms a bit, it means the whole experience should be more pleasant, faster and easier for both patients and physicians. Plus, fewer activations of the system for each diagnosis means less exposure to radiation, on top of the fact that the machine already has a low impact on that front.
"Everyone has become more concerned about radiation, patients, physicians and facilities," Kingery said. "Radiation accumulates in the body and you're only allowed so much exposure in a year. This allows us to get the same or more imaging without as much exposure.
The benefits go beyond just the imaging, though. The machinery being replaced was between about a decade and two old, meaning there have been a lot of improvements in things like ease of use since it was made as doctors have had input on the design. The new system allows them to move the screen around so they can view it virtually from anywhere in the room. They also now have the ability to pull up stored images from previous scans and set them up right beside the current shots for an easy comparison.
"That will help us, for instance, when we're looking at how effective a stent has been because we can see what the blockage was and what it looks like now," Kingery said.
The machinery, which will soon be duplicated at two other Covenant Health facilities in the region, isn't the only way LeConte is keeping on the cutting edge, so to speak, of cardiac treatment. As part of the diagnostic process, the facility uses radial catheterization, which uses veins in the arms, rather than the legs, to assess blood flow. It may seem like a small difference, but it doesn't require the patient to stay immobile or go without eating the way femeral catheterization does.
Additionally, doctors at LeConte are now performing peripheral vascular stents, which involves propping open the somewhat secondary portions of the circulatory system around the heart. In the future, they may even offer coronary stents, those on arteries directly tied to the heart.
All those benefits are more than enough to convince LeConte President and CEO Ellen Wilhoit the more than $700,000 investment is well worth it.
"We are excited about the renovation of our cardiovascular lab," Wilhoit said. "This addition demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our community to provide the latest technology for our cardiological, radiological and vascular surgeons when performing cardiac catheterizations and other procedures to meet the needs of our patients. We are very blessed to have the ability to offer this service to the people of Sevier County."
dhodges@themountainpress.com
The facility has been plagued with problems such as lengthy wait times and unsatisfactory care given in the emergency room. Numerous nursing protocols and state regulations are overlooked – partly due to lack of staffing and bad supervision.
Administrators run the facility using the “good ol boy/girl” system that has become synonymous with Sevier County. As for patients being transferred to Knoxville area hospitals, I think that there are 3 reasons for this:
1) At the patients request – due to the bad reputation that the hospital has had as Fort Sanders Sevier and now as LeConte.
2) The LeConte Hospital in not equipped for more serious injuries. (trauma etc.)
3) Hospitals are rated on several statistics including the number of deaths at each facility.
Le Conte is a beautiful facility with some good doctors and nurses but i believe some administrative changes are well overdue.
However if you really feel this way you are welcome to go to Knoxville. I'd recommend you get more information and try the facility. You never know when you might not make it to Knoxville.