The new Hemodynamic Cardiology Unit of the José Molina Orosa Hospital in Lanzarote has been up and running since September 25. To mark the opening, the President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, the Minister of Health of the regional Executive, Esther Monzón, and the President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Bentancort, visited it this Tuesday.
This unit was part of "a historical demand" of the population of Lanzarote who until now had to travel to Gran Canaria to be treated in the specialty of Interventional Cardiology.
The President of the Canary Islands highlighted the work of the entire team of the Ministry of Health, the entire medical team of the José Molina Orosa Hospital and the Cardiovascular Unit of the Doctor Negrín Hospital. He also pointed out that after seven years since this hemodynamic unit was planned, “it has been the enthusiasm and drive of the magnificent public professionals we have in our Health System that have made it a reality today.” He also assured that Health is one of the Government's commitments. “We have the obligation to give citizens a better service, bringing Health closer to the patient,” he asserted.
For her part, the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón, reiterated that the implementation of this Unit in the Lanzarote hospital avoids displacements of the population of Lanzarote to the Doctor Negrín Hospital and influences “not only a better provision of healthcare to the patient but also savings.” Precisely, the President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, acknowledged that with the implementation of this unit “quality of life is provided to the citizens of Lanzarote and La Graciosa” and an improvement in healthcare provision on the Island.
The new unit began its journey with the performance of two cardiac catheterizations on two male patients aged 49 and 64 who are progressing favorably. The team of hemodynamic cardiologists who performed this procedure for the first time at the Lanzarote Hospital has been supported by those responsible for Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology at the Doctor Negrín University Hospital of Gran Canaria.
Direct attention to users
With an area of close to 200 meters, the new Hemodynamics Unit is conceived as a multipurpose and multifunctional room equipped with cutting-edge technology. The operating room equipment has a digitized X-ray arch that offers high-resolution images and allows the three-dimensional reconstruction of organs, if the procedure so requires, and a table with a capacity of up to 300 kilos, as well as a polygraph to review electrophysiological and arrhythmia procedures, in addition to safety devices for basic and advanced life support.
This equipment allows studies of cardiac, cerebral and vascular catheterizations, different radiological intervention techniques and hemodynamic, electrophysiology and device implantation procedures such as coronary stents and pacemakers with the lowest dose of radiation. The care area also has a preparation and monitoring room for patients, an office area and an information room for family members.
The implementation of this equipment responds to one of the health demands most claimed by the citizens of Lanzarote. The head of cardiology at Molina Orosa, Oscar Morera, assures that “the new facilities improve healthcare and guarantee direct and immediate attention to users of Lanzarote's healthcare because it allows us to carry out interventional cardiology procedures that will avoid a large part of patient transfers to hospitals in Gran Canaria.”
500 catheterizations and 120 pacemakers
The Hemodynamics unit will be attended by an expert team that has been trained and recycled at the Dr. Negrín University Hospital of Gran Canaria, made up of hemodynamic cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, nurses and nursing assistant technicians TCAE.
The forecast is that the new Cardiac Interventionism unit will host an average of between four and five patients per day and will perform approximately between 460 and 500 diagnostic and/or therapeutic cardiac catheterizations throughout the year. Regarding the placement of pacemakers, they calculate that an annual average of between 100 and 120 permanent implants will be carried out.
Pathologies to be treated
The Hemodynamic Cardiology Unit will treat diseases of the coronary arteries and heart valves. It is planned to carry out between four and five therapeutic catheterization interventions, procedures through the skin via the intravascular route that allow treating some heart diseases and other lesions without surgery and diagnostic catheterizations. While the days dedicated to cardiac stimulation (pacemakers) can carry out up to three interventions for which there is a team of four implanting cardiologists.
The room will also allow electrophysiology studies to be carried out at Molina Orosa, which will be carried out by a specialist from the Dr. Negrín Hospital who will travel to Lanzarote, thus avoiding the transfer of patients to the Gran Canaria Hospital.