The first vascular surgery performed at FirstHealth's new Reid Heart Center was "perfectly suited" for the facility's multi-use operating room, officials said.

Tom Kane, director of surgical services, said the patient had an abdominal aneurysm, which is a bulging of the aorta.

"A repair is necessary to avoid a life-threatening rupture of the vessel, and the new OR room has a fixed X-ray that provides state-of-the-art X-ray images for the repair process," Kane said. "Catheters and grafts are introduced through the femoral arteries, allowing for the repairs to be done from inside the aorta. The new equipment and operating room make the process safer and easier than ever."

In fact, Dr. Clinton Atkinson performed the operation in less than three hours.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. John F. Krahnert Jr., who started the open-heart program at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in September 1990, said the center, whose full name is "Reid Heart Center: The FirstHealth Cardiac and Vascular Institute," is more than a building; it's a concept.

"Our whole drive when we moved over there was to elevate the level of care, and the focus is really on the patient and their family," Krahnert said. "When people are going in for major heart procedures, they are anxious, and so is their family. We want them to feel comfortable from the minute they walk in the door."

Krahnert, who was at the hospital 20 years ago when state-of-the-art operating rooms were added, said the new operating rooms take that concept to a much higher level.

"They are bigger, more user-friendly and provide for more efficiency," he said. "In heart surgery, expediency is key without sacrificing quality of care. A good surgery done fast is better than a good surgery done slow."

'Built for the Future'

Krahnert said the design of the new rooms also provides for adaptation to new technology.

"That's the beauty. The infrastructure and technology are ahead of the procedures we're doing right now," he said. "We didn't build the operating rooms for the present. We built them for the future. They are well-equipped to adapt to future procedures and technological advances."

The $82 million facility, on the Page Road side of the FirstHealth campus in Pinehurst, opened on Jan. 17. The first open-heart surgery and vascular procedures were performed the following day. Since then, some 63 procedures have been performed in the facility's new operating rooms.

Only four medical centers in North Carolina reach the technical levels the Reid Center shares with Duke, UNC and Wake Forest. Its six operating rooms are all lead-lined so that X-ray equipment can be used in any of them. All are connected online wirelessly.

Named for longtime FirstHealth supporters Walter and Betty Reid, of Pinehurst, the center consolidates Moore Regional's cardiac and vascular services into a single location. It includes 27 cardiology/telemetry beds, 30 critical care beds, five cardiac catheterization labs and two electrophysiology suites.

Two of the six operating rooms have been specially designed as "dual -purpose rooms" for open-heart -surgeries as well as interventional cardiac and vascular procedures.

Latest Milestone

Completion of the Reid Center is the latest milestone for Moore Regional's nationally recognized cardiovascular program, which began in July 1987 with the hospital's first diagnostic cardiac catheterization. That procedure was performed by invasive cardiologist Dr. David M. Cowherd, who also did the hospital's first balloon angioplasty in January 1991. The invasive program paved the way for the open-heart program.

Cowherd, Krahnert and FirstHealth CEO Charles Frock are among the hospital dignitaries scheduled to host U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, who missed the open house last month but plans to tour the Reid Center today.

Nuclear medicine will move into the 186,000-square-foot building this week, and the seven cath labs are being relocated from the main hospital one at a time. The final one is expected to be in place by April.

During the 2010 fiscal year, FirstHealth's interventional cardiology service performed 7,389 procedures, an average of more than 600 a month. The three cardiothoracic surgeons performed more than 550 open-heart and thoracic surgeries, an average of more than 45 a month, while three vascular surgeons performed more than 600 vascular surgeries (about 50 a month) during the same period of time.