Cath Lab Accessories: Is Your Room Complete?

If you're about to purchase a cath lab (or maybe you just have), congrats! You’re on your way to improving patient care and access, not to mention generating revenue for your facility's bottom line. While securing the cath lab itself is certainly the biggest step, there are additional items that you may need to consider purchasing to make sure your lab is complete for the specific studies you are looking to perform.

The following are some of the most common cath lab accessories. You may not need all of them, but it's important to be aware that at least one or two of these will likely be part of your final project cost.

Cath Lab Must-Haves

Hemodynamic Monitoring System

A hemodynamic monitoring (hemo) system operates independently from the cath lab and monitors physiological signs such as blood pressures inside the heart, veins, and arteries during a wide range of cath/angio procedures. The GE Maclab is the most common and, we've heard from many sites, user-friendly example of a hemo system.

EP Recording System

This is a device that records invasive EKG signals to locate the source of abnormal cardiac rhythms in procedures like cardiac ablations. The GE CardioLab is the most popular option here, and can be configured along with the MacLab for hemo, in what GE calls the ComboLab.

Cath Lab Injectors

Injectors are necessary for any study where contrast dye will be injected into a patient. Medrad is the manufacturer of the most commonly-found injector systems.

Surgical Lights

Additional lighting in the OR is a frequent request from many physicians. Surgical lamps attached to ceiling-mounted boom arms provide the necessary illumination as well as the flexibility to put it where it's needed most. 

Overhead Lead Glass Shield

This item is an optional safety measure. Like your monitors or surgical lights, a lead glass shield can be suspended from the ceiling on a movable arm and positioned between a lab's operator and the X-ray source to help minimize their radiation dose.

Leaded Wearables

Lead aprons, thyroid shields, and radiation-attenuating gloves and glasses are all necessary radiation  protection items for personnel working in the lab during procedures. While they are certainly the least costly items on this list, they are also the most likely to need periodic replacement- and you'll probably need several sets to fully accommodate your team.

The Takeaway

Depending on the studies you are looking to perform, there could be a host of other equipment that needs to be considered. Items like cardiac stimulators, 3D mapping systems, RF generators, intra-aortic balloon pumps, thrombectomy pumps, and IVUS ultrasounds are just a sampling of the possible add-ons being used by physicians in all kinds of specialties.

If you’re in the process of planning a cath lab project for your facility, be sure to talk over accessories with the physicians who will be using the system. And, if you need any ancillary equipment to go along with your cath system, we can help with that too.