Hybrid operating room, with both surgery and imaging, part of UK Chandler Hospital's $800 million expansion

A distinguishing feature of the $800 million expansion to the University of Kentucky's Chandler Hospital will be a hybrid operating room.

The 1,000-square-foot room, with a price tag of $3.2 million, allows physicians to perform surgeries as well as patient imaging and catheterization, thus giving it the "hybrid" label. The imaging is performed with help of a robotic arm, enabling doctors to get needed information without moving patients, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mary Meehan reports. The room will allow surgeons to perform common heart procedures, such as the insertion of stents, as well as complex surgeries.

Dr. Bernard Boulanger, UK HealthCare surgical medical director, told Meehan the hybrid room will be used "every day, most of the day."

To test the efficiency of the room's design, a to-scale model was built out of Styrofoam in which doctors, nurses and technicians simulated procedures. The renovation, which is in its second phase, will also add eight standard operating rooms to the facility, each of which will cost $1 million. (Read more)