Newsroom
Interventional Radiology Suite Redevelopment
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Toronto, May 16, 2005, — At North York General Hospital, our goal is toprovide the highest quality patient care — ensuring the best possible treatment outcomes with the lowest levels of risk to patients.

A Valuable Community Resource
To achieve these outcomes, our Medical programs rely heavily on the skills and services of our Medical Imaging team. This team provides essential clinical services, diagnosing and treating inpatients and outpatients. Hundreds of family physicians and specialists in our community refer their patients to Medical Imaging for diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of medical conditions.

Our Medical Imaging professionals use advanced technology and the latest in minimally invasive interventional techniques to help patients become better quicker. As a result of advances in both practice and technology, Medical Imaging’s treatments often offer patients medical solutions that are less invasive and less painful, while also requiring less recovery time.

What is Interventional Radiology?
Interventional radiology is a branch of medicine that diagnoses and treats disease using small needles, guidewires, and catheters introduced through tiny skin incisions and guided by x-ray, ultrasound, CT or other forms of radiologic imaging. It is occasionally referred to as ‘surgery without a scalpel’!

Interventional Radiologists are medical doctors who are highly trained in radiologic imaging, angiography, and other needle and catheter techniques, as well as having the clinical skills and knowledge to integrate these into overall patient care. Interventional radiologists treat a variety of diseases: blocked arteries, drainage of abscesses and fluid collections, and various image-guided biopsies. They perform uterine fibroid embolization in women as an alternative to hysterectomy. As a recognized centre of excellence for the angiographic treatment of uterine fibroids, North York General Hospital has treated more than 250 women to date for this condition. They also perform many therapeutic and palliative procedures in cancer patients.

It’s time to revitalize our Hospital’s Medical Imaging Program
North York General Hospital has been a leader among community teaching hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area in terms of early acquisition of advanced technology. As a matter of record, many Radiologists choose to join our team because of our hospital’s top-notch investments in emerging technologies and best practices.

But, just like buying any kind of technology, the costs for Medical Imaging technology are steep — it is a capital-intensive program. Because Medical Imaging’s services are in such high demand, we’ve also outgrown our facilities at the hospital’s General site.

The first phase of our major renovation to our Medical Imaging program is the development of a new Interventional Radiology Suite. This major project encompasses creating state-of-the-art rooms in which modern Imaging technology can be used effectively and efficiently.

The need is urgent. Current space is inadequate, virtually the same as when we opened 36 years ago. In fact, when Medical Imaging opened in 1968, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, CT and Ultrasound had not even been invented yet! Moreover, much of our non-three dimensional equipment, while still functional, is aging rapidly and prone to breakdowns. When these breakdowns occur, it becomes more and more difficult to serve our patients in a timely, effective manner and needed repairs are extraordinarily expensive.

We’re raising $4.1 million dollars to start this re-development
The new Interventional Radiology Suite, housing a state-of-the-art Fluoroscopy unit, will be backed by advanced computing technology. Within this new Interventional Radiology Suite, our medical imaging team will be able to make greater contributions to the quality and timeliness of care provided at North York General Hospital. Using state-of-the-art digital radiography, ultrasound and CT, radiologists will perform a wide range of procedures including biopsies; draining fluid and abscesses; inserting catheters for chemotherapy; dilating and or stenting narrowed blood vessels.

To all of our 2005 Kick Up Your Heels Gala Patrons
On behalf of the Board of Governors of North York General Hospital, our physicians, staff, volunteers, and especially our patients, thank you for your support helping to raise funds for the redevelopment of our Interventional Radiology Suite.