WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — It may be in a smaller city than places like Dallas and Fort Worth, but United Regional prides itself on offering the latest and greatest in advanced technology.
Bigger is better, right? United Regional Director of Cardiology Services Lisa Green begs to differ.
“I think it’s just trying to get past the mentality of bigger is better and that’s not always the truth,” Green said.
From minimally invasive heart valve replacement to electrophysiology and putting in stents, the technology in United Regional’s catheterization labs is top-notch.
“It’s the best and latest technology available,” URHCS Interventional Cardiologist Andre Desire, M.D. said.
“Less radiation which is very important because we are in radiation doing these procedures day in and day out,” Green said.
Green describes cardiology as two parts working together, almost like bringing a run-down house, back to life.
“We have the plumbers and the electricians, so our cardiologists, our invasive cardiologists are what I consider the plumbers, they go in and they open up the vessels that are closed,” Green said. “Then we have the electrition who is Dr. [Darpan] Kumar, so he looks at the electrical part of the heart so you need both of those to keep your heart beating.”
Desire is one of those so-called plumbers.
“What we’re able to offer patients that they don’t get in the metroplex I believe,” Desire said.” They get the close care that you may not get in a major let’s say university hospital.”
Desire has been at United Regional for two decades. He believes the combination of personalized care and advanced technology is unmatched.
“Have better visualization so as a result when you talk about putting in a stent, something that may be as small as two millimeters in diameter when you have a sharp, crisp picture which we have with the current technology, it actually allows you to precisely position the stents where you want it,” Desire said. “When I was in la going to the supermarket I have never run into any of my patients, here in Wichita Falls I run into my patients all the time.”
Using less radiation and sophisticated equipment, the cath labs can work on anyone dealing with a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, rhythm problems, anything and everything vascular.
“We’re able to go in and look at if there’s a blockage, if there’s a blockage we’re able to fix that right then and there, you don’t have to come back or you don’t have to go to surgery,” Green said.
Two veteran United Regional members of the Cardiac Institute team proving size is no measure of success.
“Anything that supplies blood to the organs, we’re able to visualize with our catheters,” Green said.
“You don’t know you need it until you actually need it right, but it’s good to have it available here,” Desire said.
A resource pumping in the heart of Wichita County, keeping patients close to home and living their fullest lives.
United Regional said this technology is thanks to employees who give back and its generous community donors.
One big addition is the ability to do TCAR and TAVR procedures.
Click here to watch the Healthy You segment about the TAVR procedure to fix aortic stenosis.
