Jacksonville, Florida, April 23, 2007 -- Making pediatric cardiovascular patients' hearts healthier may soon take less time, with less exposure to radiographic dyes and X-rays and shorter time under heavy sedation or general anesthesia. This will result in reduced risk for complications, with Wolfson Children's Hospital new cardiac catheterization laboratory for the Children's Heart Center now under construction.

The new lab will replace the current cardiac cath lab that opened in 1996 and will use flat-panel, biplane acquisition, completely digital technology called Innova 2121 that was custom-designed by GE Healthcare for Wolfson.

"The Innova 2121 significantly enhances the quality of images," says pediatric cardiologist Jose Ettedgui, MD, medical director of the University of Florida Pediatric Cardiovascular Center affiliated with Wolfson Children's Hospital. "It will be the first GE flat-panel system to go in a pediatric lab. We have customized it to include the features that are valuable to our cardiologists."

One feature of the new equipment is two imaging arms with angulations that can be achieved independently. "They are combined to get the most information out of each contrast injection for each child so we can minimize their exposure to radiographic dye and X-rays," explains Ettedgui. "We don't have to take multiple pictures of the same structure because we can get the correct angles in one shot. Also, the new technology allows us to perform procedures faster so children are under heavy sedation or general anesthesia for a shorter time, reducing the risk of complications in the heart."

The build-out of a new cath lab, expected to open in June 2007, was necessary to accommodate the impressive growth of the pediatric cardiovascular program. "Over the past five years, the volume of work -- from our outpatient evaluations, cath lab procedures, echocardiograms and heart surgeries -- has increased by about 40 percent," says Ettedgui.

The Children's Heart Center is expected to continue on its path of rapid growth fueled by the growth in the Jacksonville population and its neighboring communities. The program receives referrals from the Florida Panhandle, southeast Georgia, and north-central Florida.

"With the strong, collegial partnership between Wolfson Children's Hospital and the University of Florida, we have evolved into a very solid program," says Dr. Ettedgui.