Beebe unveils state-of-the-art operating room

Officials at the Lewes campus unveiled a hybrid operating room, the first of its kind in Sussex County. With a more than 1,000-square-foot surgical area, the new operating room has space for complex imaging equipment and allows several doctors to coordinate care and streamline vascular surgery.

Vascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, radiologists, anesthesiologists and support teams have space to work together in one area. 

“In this room, we’ll be able to do procedures where we can cut down on the arteries and open them up,” said Dr. Kevin Caldwell, vascular surgeon. “But at the same time, we can go in with balloons and stents and fix harder-to-access arteries that would usually take a bigger surgery to repair.”

The spacious operating room also allows for more cost-effective procedures. Previously, more intensive operations would have required multiple procedures or scans. High-tech imaging screens, x-ray machines, available anesthesia and the larger space allow for the surgeon, surgery team, diagnostic imaging team, and anesthesiologist to be present for both minimally invasive and open surgeries to be done in the same visit. This will reduce the number of visits necessary to complete a procedure and will reduce the amount of times a patient needs to receive anesthesia. 

The most common surgeries to be done in the hybrid operating room will be revascularization, endovascular aneurysm repair and stent graft placement, among others.

“It’s super exciting for all of us,” said Dr. Carlos Neves, vascular surgeon. “It allows us to do more complex cases. We want to provide the Delmarva Peninsula and its habitants with the best imaging and best patient care, and this room allows us to do more cases than we could.”

The hybrid operating room is also designed to accommodate new advancements in vascular surgery. All of the equipment is upgradeable, officials said, so Beebe will continue to be on the forefront of vascular surgery going forward.

The operating room is among many upgrades coming to Beebe during its $200 million expansion project, fueled by $45 million raised through the I Believe in Beebe campaign. The new South Coastal Health Campus in Millville, a women’s healthcare center and specialty surgical hospital, both in Rehoboth, are among planned new facilities.