Ushering in the future of healthcare with “the best kept secret in medicine”

Interventional radiology is one of medicine’s most exciting and innovative specialties. It uses imaging technology like a type of real-time X-Ray called fluoroscopy, CT scans or ultrasound guidance to steer needles, guidewires and small catheters into tiny incisions in the skin, and sometimes through blood vessels in order to locate and correct problems without the need for conventional surgery.

Because it can be used to find and treat problems just about anywhere in the body, all through a tiny opening, interventional radiology has quickly become a cornerstone of patient care at PRHC. Experts often call it “the best kept secret in medicine.” It enables surgery to be minimally invasive, meaning less pain, shorter hospital stays and rapid diagnosis and treatment for patients. 

As a Regional Referral Program for interventional radiology, PRHC is the hub of care for a catchment area of 300,000 people. PRHC is currently a District Stroke Centre, serving Haliburton, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, Peterborough, and North Hastings County.

It is a leader among Ontario’s community hospitals in delivering a wide range of interventional radiology services. People of all ages – especially seniors at risk of complications from major surgery – are benefitting from minimally invasive interventional radiology. In fact, PRHC’s doctors perform 6,000 of these procedures every year, and the need for interventional radiology is growing.

The following are only some of the procedures that PRHC’s four interventional radiologists perform:

• Procedures to drain infections
• Organ biopsies
• Arteriograms using X-rays and fluorescent dye to diagnose potentially life-threatening conditions such as abdomen bleeds and liver tumours
• Unblocking arteries outside the heart using drugs that dissolve blood clots
• Stopping bleeding from an injured blood vessel or blood flow to a tumour
• Collecting fluid and draining blocked kidneys and bile ducts
• Implanting dialysis shunts

Built more than 14 years ago, however, PRHC’s current interventional radiology suites are small and cannot accommodate new technologies and the number of key medical personnel that are critical to the continuation and expansion of PRHC’s interventional radiology services.

With the support of our community, PRHC Foundation is committed to funding this innovative area of care. It will allow PRHC to renovate and expand the hospital’s two existing interventional radiology suites, add a new step-down unit and outfit all three with state-of-the-art, high-resolution imaging technologies, while also expanding the recovery room. This means PRHC will be able to offer increased access to minimally invasive procedures and an overall reduction in recovery time with less trauma to the patient, and introduce new methods to treat stroke and some forms of cancer.

You can help!

You can make a donation online, or for more information, please call 705-876-5000.