When John Byrne, M.D., joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center a year ago, he brought a novel idea that he hoped would impact the cardiovascular world, much like air bag safety equipment revolutionized the auto industry.

Called the Hybrid OR/Cath Lab, the state-of-the-art operating suite houses all the equipment and monitoring devices necessary to perform both open-heart surgeries like coronary bypass as well as percutaneous coronary interventions and procedures, including angioplasty and stenting.

Although Byrne was not the only cardiovascular surgeon exploring the concept, he is believed to be the first to put the plan into action in the Southeast.

A major advantage of this new approach is the ability to perform completion angiography or an X-ray of routine cardiac surgical cases. Traditionally a "before picture" is obtained prior to surgery, but an X-ray study after procedures are completed was not the standard of care. continued..