AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Heart patients in the CSRA now have new opportunities to receive care utilizing the newest technology at Doctors Hospital of Augusta following roughly $2 million in improvements made to the hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
The extensively renovated laboratory facilities, which opened Wednesday, now include GE HealthCare’s new Allia IGS 5 for image guided therapies, which uses AI assistance to enhance image quality and reduce radiation exposure.
Specifically, this new imaging technology enables physicians to identify lesions that would typically have required additional testing.
According to Doctors Hospital President and CEO Joanna Conley, “This new technology allows us to capture better images of the heart and also reduce scanning time to speed up efficiency for our patients. ‘Time is Muscle’ when it comes to some sort of blockage in the heart, and so we are thrilled to be able to improve access and quality for our patients.”
It’s been nearly 10 years since the Cath Lab at Doctors had been renovated.
Renovations and the purchase of new technology at the lab are part of a push by Doctors Hospital to expand their cardiology program and meet demand for critical cardiac services in the community with the goal of catching potential problems early and reaching more people in the CSRA who may be in need of cardiac care and not yet know it.
From early intervention to helping those in the midst of a heart attack, the new technology and renovated space are meant to save lives and provide quicker patient care and access during the critical seconds that, Doctors Hospital says, could change a patient’s life.
The first patient set to receive care at the newly retooled Cath Lab was scheduled for Wednesday morning, shortly after the ribbon was cut on the new facility.
