Hospital's hybrid operating theatre cuts risks for patients

Prince of Wales Hospital heart patients who once had to be moved from one floor to another for different operations can now have them done all in one place.

This follows Chinese University's introduction of a hybrid operating theatre at the Sha Tin hospital that it says will reduce the risks of moving patients around.

"In the past, the process of transporting the patients took time and created risks," Professor Simon Yu Chun-ho, from the university's department of imaging and interventional radiology, said. "During the transportation, there might be bleeding and infections."

Yu said the hybrid operating theatre created a platform for doctors of different specialities to work together on a patient. It also enabled some high-risk and complex operations that were previously impossible.

Patients who needed to be moved in the past included those who required both a heart bypass and a stent insertion in the aorta - the main heart artery.

Since the hybrid operating theatre came into use last year, the team has assessed about 70 complex patient cases, of which 16 underwent a hybrid operation - bypass and stent insertion.