Technology is often at the forefront of medical care, thanks to new developments that make treatments less invasive, better and faster. Covenant Health has implemented many technologies that improve treatment processes and potential outcomes, and enhance communications throughout the system.

Cardiac Technology

• State-of-the-art digital imaging such as the Innova 4100 and Innova 2000 allows physicians to see clearly while guiding catheters and other medical devices to treatment areas.

• New technology produces clear images of the heart for early detection and diagnosis of heart disease. The Lightsped VCT scanner at Fort Sanders Regional captures a precise image in just five heartbeats, while the Carto XP atrial mapping system takes 3-D color images without x-rays and offers immediate results for patients suffering from arrhythmias. The Vivid 7 echocardiography system uses ultrasound to produce a moving cardiac image in real time.

• Fort Sanders Regional implanted the region's first InSync cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker, as well as the first implant of the world's smallest dual-chamber pacemaker.

• Radiofrequency ablation, offered at Fort Sanders Regional, controls rapid heartbeats with radio waves. Parkwest pioneered the region's first drug-eluting stent, and stent innovations at Covenant's major hospitals are used to open blocked arteries and help prevent a recurrence of the blockage.

• The Cutting Balloon™ heart catheter at Parkwest and Methodist Medical Center offers ability to open blockages with less damage to the innermost lining of the coronary artery wall while reducing the percentage of re-narrowing that can occur in the artery.

• Parkwest is the first area hospital to offer beating-heart bypass surgery

Cancer Technology

• Thompson Cancer Survival Center is one of only a few facilities worldwide to treat patients using TomoTherapy, an image-guided, intensity modulated radiation treatment for virtually any tumor in the body.

• Thompson pioneered photodynamic therapy, a surgical alternative for treatment of Barrett's esophagus. The Center was the first in the area to offer high-dose rate brachtherapy, where radiation is delivered directly to a tumor using a radioactive pellet.

• Thompson and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center were selected as initial treatment sites for respiratory gating, an FDA-approved technique that allows radiation therapy to adjust to the movement of lung cancer tumors as a patient breathes, thus focusing more radiation on the cancer site and protecting healthy tissue. Respiratory gating is used in conjunction with a four-dimensional CT scan for accuracy.

• The area's first mammotome-assisted core biopsy enables physicians to better diagnose early stage breast cancer using ultrasound images and tissue sampling which provide more accurate diagnoses with minimal patient discomfort.

• PET (positron emission tomography) at Thompson-West provides advanced imaging technology to pinpoint tumors.

• Thompson-Methodist offers one of the nation's first comprehensive chest cancer clinics, reducing time between discovery of possible chest cancer and beginning of treatment, as well as high-dose rate brachytherapy for women with cervical, uterine and vaginal cancer and prostate seed implantation for men with early-stage prostate cancer.

• The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center offers the region's first physical rehabilitation therapy program specifically designed for cancer patients.

Other Surgical and Treatment Innovations

• Fort Sanders Regional announced the area's first surgical robotics system for minimally invasive procedures, particularly for treatment of prostate cancer or heart valve repair. Methodist Medical Center offers laparascopic surgical suites for other minimally invasive surgical procedures.

• Parkwest initiated the area's first bariatric surgery for patients whose health is at risk because of morbid obesity, as well as the innovative Enteryx® procedure, which uses a patented liquid co-polymer to treat chronic acid reflux.

• Fort Sanders Regional offers East Tennessee's first flat panel bi-plane angiography, allowing neurointerventional radiologists to place tiny coils into brain aneurysms to clot excess blood without performing craniotomies. Methodist implemented the area's first KyphX® Spinal Repair system, as well as offering the state's only otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem response testing.

• Methodist Medical Center provides hyperbaric oxygen technology for chronic wounds which have not responded to traditional surgery or medical treatment.

Communications

Covenant's innovations include:

• Electronic clinical alerts for physicians and caregivers to let them know of changes in a patient's health status

• Electronic procedures for identifying possible drug interactions or allergies at the point of order entry

• Systemwide Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS) which allows digital imaging (x-rays, CT scans, etc.) to be stored electronically and safely transmitted as needed for care.

Other Technologies

• State-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and multi-slice computerized tomography (CT) scanning

• Ultrasound

• Nuclear medicine

• Fluoroscopy

• Bone densitometry

• Advanced monitoring systems

• Mammography

• Diagnostic x-rays

• Lithotripsy

For additional information about Covenant Health's commitment to quality care or assistance in locating a medical service, call 865-541-4500.