September 1998

A $4.1 million Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, equipped with advanced digital technology that allows cardiologists to see near-instant images of coronary arteries opened at Marin General Hospital.

MGH Cardiologist and Cath Lab Director Dr. David Sperling said digital technology offers many advantages over older equipment.

"The new Cath Lab promises state of the art cardiac care for Marin County patients by providing quicker and more acute anatomic information about coronary anatomy through digital technology," Sperling said.

The Cath Lab produces digital pictures with greater resolution in a variety of formats, he said. This can improve decision making in the performance of interventional procedures such as angioplasty (tiny probes are sent through the arteries to diagnose and treat blockages).

"Digital technology means that images of coronary arteries are produced nearly instantly," he said. "The older process relied on development of a film image, which lengthened the procedure time and created costly storage problems for the hospital. This user friendly system improves patient comfort and safety and reduced radiation exposure to patients and laboratory personnel."

A group of Marin General cardiologists raised some $1.3 million of the $4.1 million cost of the facility, Sperling said. Initial planning for the new lab began about three years ago.

MGH opened the county's first Cath Lab in 1986 because, at the time, Marin hospitals often cared for heart attack patients in the acute stage and then transferred them to facilities in San Francisco for surgery and angioplasty.

It was in convenient and, in some cases, unsafe for patients to travel to San Francisco for advanced heart services, Sperling said.

A new Cath Lab was needed, he said, because of the tremendous advances in technology since the first lab opened and an increase in the number of Marin residents requiring advanced heart services.