UHWI fluoroscopy suite hailed as a major game-changer
Published:Friday | October 14, 2022 | 12:10 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) got a major fillip in its healthcare delivery on Thursday with the official opening of the fluoroscopy unit, which medical professionals describing it as a game-changer for Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.
“It really adds and improves the compliment of diagnostic capabilities, but what the fluoroscopic unit does is in a minimally invasive way, it will allow us to treat patients [by allowing us] to not only see what’s wrong, but also to intervene, without the costs associated with surgery. So patients with coronary artery disease can have their stents done under fluoroscopy because you know where to put your stent and open up the blood vessels,” Professor Joseph Plummer, head of the Department of Surgery, Radiology, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, told The Gleaner.
He went on to explain that among the immediate benefits are improved accuracy, reduction in morbidity and cost savings for surgery in keeping with the trends of modern healthcare delivery.
And then there are also the increased training capabilities to an array of medical professionals, including radiology technicians.
“It exposes our nursing students, medical students, our other residents to these diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities and I am particularly happy about pancreatic cancer because it is one of those lethal cancers that the majority of patients depended on ERCP,” he said, referring to endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography, a test to help doctors look at the pancreas, liver, gallbladder and bile ducts.
“When we had a fluoroscopic unit before, this was how they were treated. When it went down, the patients suffered, and I know right now, through the length and breadth of Jamaica, we have patients waiting to have this service,” added Plummer.
Meanwhile, head of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Dr Sundeep Shah, explained the fundamental difference which the fluoroscopy unit will make.
“When you take out your camera, you get a still [picture], but when you turn it on video mode, you get stills in action, so essentially fluoroscopy is stills in action. So essentially, fluoroscopy is X-rays in action and it is the art and science of these X-rays in action that create a result,” Shah explained.
He added that fluoroscopy remains vital in both the diagnostic and the interventional realm.
“In radiology, we would look at processes affecting the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the vascular systems, and we would use it in interventional radiology, which is one of the largest growing fields, to let us know where our needles are going, our stents are going, catheters are going and that also help minimal invasive surgery. But we would extend it to all the other specialties – interventional GIs, vascular surgery and the list goes on and on,” he said at the ceremony.
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton pointed out that the new, state-of-the-art Philips CombiDiagnost Unit, which is supplied by International Med X and donated by the Tony Thwaites Wing at the UHWI, shows the importance of partnership to support the build-out of public health infrastructure and increasing the capacity to improve healthcare delivery.