An anonymous donor has paid £100,000 for a new state-of-the-art ultrasound system and research at Nottingham’s Trent Cardiac Centre.
The donor gave Nottingham University Hospitals Charity £80,000 for the equipment and £20,000 to be used for research into heart problems.
The new 3D imaging machine will be used in one of the two theatres in the Trent Cardiac Centre, at the City Hospital, the other of which already has one of the systems.
It will help surgeons get a better picture of their patients’ heart functions, aiding diagnosis and assessment.
Mr Ian Mitchell, Cardiac Surgeon, said: “It’s an ultrasound machine specifically for looking at the heart.
“It will help us to look at the function of the heart and particularly look at the function of the valves to get a better assessment of what might be wrong with the patient. Also, when you have done an operation or put a new valve in, you can see if it is working properly.”
The 3D system will replace a 2D ultrasound scanner which is currently used in the theatre, and which will be moved to the cardiac intensive care unit once the new equipment is installed.
Researchers will use £20,000 from the anonymous donation to study the connection between cells in relation to post-operative heart problems.
The donor was particularly interested in combining the equipment with the research when she decided to support Mr Mitchell and his team.
Mr Mitchell explained: “After cardiac surgery, some patients have an irregular heart rate. About a quarter of patients will have that as a short-term, temporary complication. There’s a risk of strokes and clots forming in the heart, so if you can avoid it, that is good.
“Nobody knows quite why this happens. This research project is to try and look at one aspect of heart function to see if we can understand what might cause the problem. We are grateful to this donor who is enhancing patient care in two ways – by providing specialist equipment and relevant research.”
To see an article about the anonymous donation in the Nottingham Evening Post, go to www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Mystery-donor-s-163-100K-boost-heart-patients/article-1761748-detail/article.html
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