Northwell Health is opening a $6 million radiology suite at Long Island Jewish Medical Center to help doctors provide more targeted cancer treatment to patients.
Northwell’s new interventional radiology room, which opened at New Hyde Park Hospital on March 23, is equipped with technology that generates 3D images of a patient’s body, allowing for more precise treatment of tumors and blood clots and optimal placement of catheters and chemotherapy ports, the health system said.
The 1,100-square-foot space’s main feature is the $1.5 million Azurion 7 image-guided therapy system manufactured by Philips. Northwell said the touchscreen-enabled device can rotate in eight axes to provide doctors with accurate images.
Northwell officials said the multimillion-dollar suite will help doctors provide more efficient care to patients while limiting the amount of time patients are exposed to radiation during imaging tests.
“Interventional radiology is a way of treating patients in a minimally invasive manner,” said Dr. Ross Wank, executive vice president of radiology at Northwell Central Market. “New equipment coming to market is taking software and hardware to the next level.”
Local hospital experts said the availability of such technology, while expensive, helps hospitals have the resources to see more patients and perform procedures such as biopsies more accurately.
The newly equipped radiology suite is one of three such suites the health system has on Long Island and the fourth overall at Northwell Hospital. The additional suites will allow the hospital to see up to 1,200 patients a year, Northwell said.
Northwell also has similarly equipped radiology suites at Huntington Hospital and Peconic Bay Medical Center. The technology is also being installed at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
Wank said Northwell has plans to upgrade LIJ and two other radiation therapy suites at all of Northwell’s hospitals.
A 583-bed teaching hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center is home to the RJ Zuckerberg Cancer Hospital, which provides surgical and emergency cancer care. Northwell’s facilities include 400 oncologists who treat more than 19,000 cancer cases each year.
“Long Island Jewish Medical Center is transforming into one of the nation’s premier cancer hospitals, and this technology will enhance the important work of our physicians,” Lenny Nartwitz, Northwell senior vice president and president of LIJ, said in a statement. “This advanced interventional radiology suite will improve access to treatment and provide more precise targeting than ever before for many medical problems.”
Investments in such technology are part of a broader trend toward “precision medicine,” said Wendy Darwell, president and CEO of the New York State Suburban Hospital Alliance, a regional trade group representing hospitals on Long Island and the Hudson Valley.
“These more sophisticated techniques are much less invasive and allow for more precise targeting,” Darwell said. “Minimally invasive care means less trauma to the patient’s body, faster recovery, and less risk of infection.”
Given the large investments in this type of technology, Darwell said hospitals with high patient volumes or specializing in a particular medical field are most likely to invest in such equipment.
“If you develop a specialty with a large enough patient volume to take advantage of these investments, the business case becomes stronger,” she said.
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