A new “remote access” stereotaxis catheter laboratory has opened at London’s Heart Hospital. Funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), it is the first of its kind in the UK and one of only 40 worldwide. It expected to save the NHS both time and money.
Using magnetic technology similar to an MRI scanner, it enables doctors to treat much higher risk patients than before. Magnetic tipped catheters or probes are “pulled” around veins and arteries by giant magnets operated with a joystick in a control room next door to the theatre allowing pinpoint precision.
In traditional labs, the operator stands next to the patient manually “pushing” the catheter around the body. It makes complex operations much easier to perform and halves the time needed to pinpoint the optimum location for heart implants.
The Ranulph Fiennes Healthy Hearts Appeal raised £1.5 million towards the cost of the lab from public donations, philanthropists, charitable trusts and foundations, and corporate supporters. The rest of the money was contributed by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Heart Hospital.
Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “The equipment represents a significant advance in medical therapy and is great news for patients at the Heart Hospital. It will allow doctors to target treatments to specific areas of the heart more quickly and precisely than ever before.”
