Northwell Health opens $6M new interventional radiology suite
Northwell Health on Friday opened a $6 million new interventional suite, augmenting the New Hyde Park, New York-based hospital system’s “already robust” radiology program.
The 1,100-square-foot space is located at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, a 583-bed acute care facility that treats 80,000 patients per year. Northwell Health said the IR suite is anchored by a new Philips Azurion 7 image-guided system, which can rotate on eight axes for 3D viewing.
Those involved note the seven-figure construction total included purchasing ancillary equipment, IT upgrades and an additional space for post-procedure recovery.
“This is the next generation of interventional radiology, which translates into better image quality, more precise guidance, and—significantly for the patient—lower dose radiation," Ross Wank, MD, executive vice chair of radiology in Northwell’s central market, said in a statement April 10.
Northwell, which operates 28 hospitals, labeled interventional radiology as the “workhorse of modern healthcare, making minimally invasive procedures possible.” This is the third IR suite at Long Island Jewish and paves the way for more advanced cancer biopsies and a new way to perform neurointerventions, the health system noted. The new scanner also will allow oncologists to perform more challenging biopsies of lesions to diagnose and treat cancer.
Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital previously opened a newly renovated, $3 million interventional radiology suite in October. Its Long Island Jewish Medical Center is home to the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Hospital and the Katz Women’s Hospital. Altogether, the system employs 400 oncology specialists treating over 19,000 cancer cases annually.
"Long Island Jewish Medical Center has transformed itself into one of the nation’s leading cancer hospitals and this technology enhances the important work our physicians are doing," added Lenny Nartowicz, MBA, president of LIJ and a Northwell senior vice president. "This advanced interventional radiology suite increases access to care and provides ever more precise targeting for a host of medical problems."
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.