Southcoast Health introduces new electrophysiology lab at CMH

SOUTHCOAST HEALTH'S major capital campaign funds were used to build the 6,700-square-foot Harold and Virginia Lash Heart and Vascular Center at Charlton Memorial Hospital, above, as well as a $4 million, 3,800-square-foot state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab at the hospital in Fall River. / COURTESY SHUPESTUDIOS/GREGG SHUPE
SOUTHCOAST HEALTH'S major capital campaign funds were used to build the 6,700-square-foot Harold and Virginia Lash Heart and Vascular Center at Charlton Memorial Hospital, above, as well as a $4 million, 3,800-square-foot state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab at the hospital in Fall River. / COURTESY SHUPESTUDIOS/GREGG SHUPE

FALL RIVER – Southcoast Health announced that a state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab has been built at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. The $4 million, 3,800-square-foot lab expands and enhances Southcoast Health’s nationally recognized cardiovascular services program.

“With this state-of-the-art lab – utilizing advanced technology that is not found in most of the major Boston hospitals — we will be able to continue to provide outstanding outcomes for our patients [with atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia or atrial tachycardia] but with less radiation and greater precision, Dr. Ramin Davoudi, director of electrophysiology for Southcoast Health, said in a statement.

The new electrophysiology lab, where providers will begin treating patients later this month, has more cameras to allow for better and quicker visualization of catheters. Using highly advanced technology to minimize radiation from X-rays; in some cases, X-ray exposure can be reduced by as much as 80 percent.

The lab’s new mapping system, which helps physicians localize abnormal electrical signals from the heart at 10 times the speed of the old system, will reduce procedure times for the patient and the operator, and improve accuracy and success. Recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this mapping system is used by only 30 health care facilities in the United States, including Southcoast Health.

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This new lab will allow Southcoast Health to treat more patients while decreasing the waiting time for many complex cardiac procedures. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2.7 million and 6.1 million people in the United States have atrial fibrillation, colloquially called “A-Fib.” By discharging 700 A-Fib cases in 2012, Southcoast Health ranked second-highest of all health care entities in Massachusetts discharging such cases, Southcoast reported.

Healthgrades recently named Southcoast Health one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care – one of just four hospitals in Massachusetts to receive this distinction for six consecutive years. Southcoast Health also received 13 other recognitions for superior cardiovascular services, including Healthgrades’ Cardiac Care Excellence Award for the 11th consecutive year.

“Achieving great results takes … leadership – people who can envision great advances in care [who] know how to make that vision a reality, and who won’t take no for an answer. It takes great clinical expertise – physicians and nurses who have a passion for delivering excellent care. And, it takes the community to get behind that vision and that passion, and to back it generously. We are fortunate to have all three at Southcoast Health,” Jason M. Rua, chair of the Southcoast Health board of trustees, said in a statement.

Southcoast Health’s major capital campaign funds were used to build this lab as well as the 6,700-square-foot Harold and Virginia Lash Heart and Vascular Center at Charlton Memorial Hospital; the Harold G. Lash Trust and the Manton Foundation have made leadership gifts to the capital campaign.

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