Reported to be the world’s very first three-bay operating suite—housing MRI, PET/CT, ultrasound, and angiography—all in one room is now open for business at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
With all the advanced imaging equipment located in one 5,700-gross-square-foot Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite, surgical teams have access to pre-procedure images to best assess the patient’s situation, and can then follow the patient’s progress during an operation, in real time.
After surgery, “they use the intraoperative MRI, angiography, X-Rays, or PET-CT to immediately determine the success of the intervention,” explains Paula Buick, RN, director of healthcare planning, Payette, Boston, the architect on the project. “For many patients, this intra-operative imaging and navigation will eliminate the need for a second procedure.”
Thanks to some very complex and sophisticated design and construction efforts on the part of Payette, BR+A Engineers, Suffolk Construction, RW Sullivan and Weidlinger Associates Inc., the hospital is now equipped with the infrastructure required to support such a remarkable technological feat.
With radiofrequency energy and a strong magnetic field surrounding the MRI, not to mention energy from radioisotopes, the laser, and X-ray equipment, the engineering team had to design extensive and complex lead, steel, and copper shielding to protect staff and patients from dangerous emissions.
Consequently, “unique construction strategies were required to accommodate penetration through the multiple layers of shielding for ductwork, piping, and connections between the equipment and the integration systems,” explains Payette Principal Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, LEED AP.
Similarly, the designers were restricted by large concrete columns and a ceiling height of just 14 feet with 7-inch drop panels to accommodate the radiofrequency enclosure, structure to support the track and Angio system, and boom mounts, while maintaining the hospital’s standard of 30 air changes per hour in the operating room.
