One Year Later, Seminole Residents Reap Benefits from Cardiac Cath Lab

Longwood, FL (August 10, 2021) – A state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab at Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital is making its mark with patients in Seminole County just one year after its unveiling.

Since opening in July 2020, the cardiac cath lab’s emergency heart team has been activated 59 times to provide care for STEMI patients, the most serious heart attack cases. The 24/7 STEMI program filled a need for emergency cardiology services in Seminole county and consistently exceeds national quality standards for STEMI care.  

The cath lab’s cutting-edge technology is also allowing South Seminole Hospital to reach more patients with a wide range of medical conditions, including diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disorders, uterine fibroids, leg pain and chronic leg and foot ulcers. In coronary interventions alone, which includes insertion of balloons and stents to open blocked arteries, the number of procedures jumped 78 percent. In total, 1,906 procedures were performed in the new cath lab, doubling what the hospital was able to perform the previous year in its former cath lab.

“Cardiovascular disease continues to be a serious health threat in our community, so the need for advanced diagnostic and treatment tools like what we have in our new cath lab is great,” says Muhammad S. Ghumman, M.D., interventional cardiologist with Orlando Health Heart Institute Cardiology Group and director of the catheterization lab at Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital. “Having this capability right here in Seminole County means we’re able to treat patients close to home, resulting in a sizable reduction in the number of patients who need to be transferred to our main downtown Orlando campus, which is something our patients really appreciate.”

Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital celebrated the anniversary of the opening of the cath lab with an event attended by community leaders, physicians, and team members.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $7.6 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in the St Petersburg region. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health is a statutory teaching system that pioneers life-changing medical research. The 3,200-bed system includes 15 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members. In FY20, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 3.1 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided approximately $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.