New Cath Lab Opens At Stony Brook Southampton Hospital

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Stony Brook Southampton's brand-new cardiac catheterization laboratory was unveiled Tuesday — the only facility of its kind on the East End.

Stony Brook Medicine's new facility will provide "clinically complex care to critically ill heart patients," hospital officials said, with services including cardiac catheterization, angioplasty, stenting, intravascular ultrasound, and Impella®, a treatment to improve blood flow in heart failure patients requiring care in the lab.

According to Dr. Reuven Pasternak, vice president for health systems for Stony Brook Medicine, “This cath lab brings extended care to a population who previously could not access potentially life-saving care within the recognized critical window of time and diagnostic services important for ongoing care. The lab also represents a major step in New York to recognize the need for alternative delivery systems for less populated areas whose residents need to have advanced levels of medical care that cannot be covered by telemedicine.”

The lab is located in the hospital’s Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center; diagnostic, emergency and elective treatments are delivered by Stony Brook University Heart Institute specialists including lab director and interventional cardiologist Dr. Travis Bench.

"The new cardiac program is the most dramatic example of exactly the sort of collaboration we hoped would happen when Southampton Hospital joined Stony Brook Medicine, as we bring the region's top medical services closer to where people live,” said Robert Chaloner, chief administrative officer for Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. “This truly signals the beginning of a new era of healthcare for our East End communities."

The new lab provides life-saving services 24/7, critical for East End patients who had to travel up to 70 miles and 90 minutes for treatment in the past.

“Faster access to the highest standard of cardiac care means more immediate, life-saving diagnosis and treatment for residents of the East End of Long Island,” said Dr. Bench.

And those moments can mean the difference between life and death, experts said: A delay in restoring blood flow through an artery increases the likelihood for significant damage to the heart muscle.

Being able to diagnose and treat a blocked artery in Southampton, without having to first transport the patient to Stony Brook, minimizes the potential for damage, officials said.

“For patients who need emergency catheterization, Stony Brook’s ‘Code H’ protocol has produced an average ‘door-to-perfusion’ time of 56 minutes, almost 45 minutes below the New York State regulated treatment guidelines,” said Dr. Javed Butler, chief of cardiology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine and co-director of the Stony Brook University Heart Institute. “That is the level of care we strive for at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. The systems and processes are in place and we look forward to taking care of our patients out east with that same dedication to quality and excellence.”

Patch courtesy photo.