Athena Becker has undergone six cardiac catheterizations at UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital of Pittsburgh, one for each year she\u2019s been alive.<\/p>\n
A seventh is likely on the horizon for the recent kindergarten graduate as doctors continue to monitor and repair a birth defect that makes it harder for her heart to pump blood to her lungs.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s one of many patients who will benefit from the hospital\u2019s $85 million heart institute expansion, which will welcome its first patients Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The 50,000-square-foot, three-story facility offers state-of-the-art catheterization labs as well as pre- and post-operative care areas dedicated to cardiac patients. The current setup has all surgical patients intermingled, adding stress to already challenging days for Athena and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody could be having tubes put in their ears, somebody could be getting their tonsils out,\u201d said Athena\u2019s mother, Melissa Becker of Brownsville, Fayette County. \u201cIt can be overwhelming with so many people around her.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first major update to the Lawrenceville hospital since it opened in 2009, but just one of several pricey projects undertaken by Western Pennsylvania\u2019s dominant health system in recent years. Like many UPMC endeavors, the heart institute building was partly funded by donations.<\/p>\n
UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital treats some of the sickest kids with the most complex heart problems, not just in the region, but across the U.S. and worldwide. About a quarter of the 20,000 or so patients seen by the hospital\u2019s cardiologists each year live outside Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are sort of the last place they call because their kid is so sick and nobody else is opening doors,\u201d said Dr. Victor Morell, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at UPMC.<\/p>\n
\u2018Destination center\u2019<\/p>\n
UPMC expects a dedicated heart institute building will further boost that expansive draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is the heart institute is going to be a destination center for children and adults who have congenital heart defects,\u201d said Diane Hupp, president of UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
One way UPMC hopes to accomplish this is by ramping up its cardiac catheterization program. The hospital currently has two labs where doctors thread thin, flexible tubes through blood vessels and into the heart to diagnose cardiovascular issues and repair minor defects.<\/p>\n
About 800 patients undergo these relatively simple procedures at the hospital each year. Three new labs in the heart institute building \u2014 the existing two in the main hospital are being converted for other use \u2014 will bring capacity up to about 1,200 annual procedures.<\/p>\n
One of the three has direct access to an MRI machine, a rarity for U.S. hospitals, allowing doctors to get detailed images of the heart right before catheterization, instead of sending patients to a different floor and possibly having to sedate them multiple times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all more cumbersome and less desirable than it could or should be,\u201d said Dr. Bryan Goldstein, the hospital\u2019s director of cardiac catheterization and intervention. \u201cSo we built a great cath lab and a great MRI space, but we built them adjacent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cardiac intensive care unit and operating rooms aren\u2019t moving from their home on the hospital\u2019s fourth floor, which is connected to the new addition by a small skywalk.<\/p>\n
A second phase of construction is underway, with an estimated end date some time in mid-2027.<\/p>\n
As part of phase two, the heart institute building will get an outpatient clinic, rehabilitation gym and expanded echocardiogram lab, where patients can receive ultrasounds of their heart. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Athena Becker has undergone six cardiac catheterizations at UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital of Pittsburgh, one for each year she\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-684767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}