The Hemodynamics Laboratory of the University Children’s Hospital in Kraków received new angiography equipment, which will allow safer and more accurate diagnosis of heart defects in young patients.
The former angiography equipment broke down after 13 years of service and the repair turned out to be uneconomic. For many months, the cardiac catheterisation was performed in a hybrid theatre, which was a temporary solution, as the theatre is primarily meant for complex cardiac surgical, neurosurgical and orthopaedic operations.
‘The angiography machine we have just obtained is a piece of state-of-the-art equipment that ensures highest standard of treatment of children with heart defects. Due to successes of our cardiologist and cardiac surgeons, we currently treat the most serious cases from southern Poland, and also from other parts of the country. Treating children suffering from heart defects would be very difficult without the new equipment’, says Dr hab. Maciej Kowalczyk, Director of the University Children’s Hospital in Kraków.
Angiography is used to visualize heart and blood vessels with x-rays. It is employed, for instance, in cardiac catheterization, as well as transvascular interventions, which can replace surgical treatment or supplement multi-stage treatment.
‘During an examination, the machine shows the path of a catheter and after a contrast medium is injected, it visualises how the medium spreads through the heart and blood vessels. Thanks to the built-in workstation, we are able to carry out detailed anatomical measurements. For example, we can measure the size of abnormal openings in heart and blood vessels. as well as the level of coarctation or dilation of the vessels’, explains Dr Wanda Król-Jawień, the Head of the Hemodynamics Laboratory of the University Children’s Hospital.
Besides its capability of detailed 3-D imaging, the new equipment also has the advantage of emitting low doses of x-rays, which is especially important for young patients with complex heart defects, who have to be catheterised many times.
About 30 interventions are performed in the Hemodynamics Laboratory every month. The new equipment, which has been in operation since March, cost 1.7 million zlotys, 1.37 million of which was covered by the Ministry of Health.
