Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center First in Tennessee to Adopt New Cardiac Angiogram Technology

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Jun 26, 2024, 12:00 ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, a member of Knoxville-based Covenant Health, was the first hospital in the state of Tennessee to adopt revolutionary diagnostic technology that provides clinicians with a patient's physiology results in just a few minutes.

Coronary heart disease is one of the top killers of adults in the U.S. and particularly the Southeast. Quick diagnosis and intervention are key to treating cardiac patients who are suffering from heart disease, heart attack, or other events causing blockages in arteries that can be life-threatening.

Fort Sanders Regional's cardiac catheterization lab is staffed around the clock, 24/7, treating both heart patients who have been admitted to the hospital and those who are having outpatient procedures.

When a patient presents with a potential artery blockage, the heart team at Fort Sanders Regional can use a new tool that shows doctors exactly what percentage of an artery is blocked. The CathWorks FFRangio ® System is a computer-based technology that uses routine angiograms (images) of a patient's heart structure to create a 3D model showing the location and degree of any blockages and their coronary arteries. This helps providers more quickly diagnose and intervene as needed, including determining whether the patient needs a stent and where the stent should be placed in the heart structure.

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a diagnostic measurement that evaluates the physiologic impact of coronary artery narrowing due to cholesterol plaque. It is an important part of the decision-making process to decide if a stent placement is indicated and the length of the stent when managing patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

In contrast to traditional FFR, the FFRangio System combines artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computational science to obtain quick and reliable FFRangio values from routine angiograms, eliminating the need for drug stimulation and invasive pressure wires. The system provides physicians intraprocedural FFRangio values for all coronary arteries.

Josh Todd, MD, interventional cardiologist at Fort Sanders Regional, said, "With this new tool, interventional cardiologists can perform clinical assessments quicker, more comprehensively, without medications, and in a way that's seamless and more efficient to the patient. This cutting-edge technology will transform how cardiovascular disease is diagnosed and treated."

To view the full release, visit https://www.covenanthealth.com/blog/cathworks-technology/.

SOURCE Covenant Health