The O-Arm at work during spine surgery in the Lexington Medical Center Surgery department.

Lexington Medical Center is the first hospital in the Midlands with the technologically advanced O-Arm, a new imaging system for spinal surgery.

The O-Arm is a machine placed around a patient on the operating table. Before surgery, doctors use the O-Arm to capture images of the patient that help them develop a precise surgical guide. During surgery, the O-Arm images allow neurosurgeons to confirm proper placement of instrumentation. After implants are placed, neurosurgeons use the O-Arm again to confirm correct placement of instruments in the spine and address anything further that needs to be done. Images are displayed on a large, digital flat screen at a view station next to the operating table.

For an up-close look at the O-Arm in the Lexington Medical Center operating room, watch this video. Dr. Scott Boyd, neurogurgeon at Columbia Neurology Associates narrates.

What is the O-arm? from Lexington Medical Center on Vimeo.

An image captured by the O-Arm at Lexington Medical Center

Manufactured by Medtronic, the O-Arm improves safety for surgeons and staff members, lowers the chance of revision surgeries and can enhance patient outcomes. Spinal problems can be chronic and debilitating. The O-Arm gives patients a great opportunity for excellent results.

Lexington Medical Center began using the O-Arm this summer. For more information, visit www.lexmed.com/O-arm

Dr. Guy Calvert, the founding director of Lexington Medical Center’s laboratories,
offered his forensic pathology expertise to Coroner Harry Harman in 1974,
during Coroner Harman’s first term in office. Dr. Calvert and Coroner Harman
worked closely in a wide variety of death investigations, establishing the
pattern of law enforcement advantages of a coroner system with the forensic
medicine expertise of a medical examiner system. As the Lexington community and
the LMC pathology group have grown, the advantages of this combined service
have become an important part of the hospital’s quality assurance program.

Pathology Associates of Lexington, P.A., the 10-member pathology group
at LMC, has played a critical role in the full spectrum of death investigations
and has served as expert witnesses in numerous homicide and accidental death
cases. Through these investigations, the group has played an increasing role in
LMC’s medical staff quality assurance program. LMC’s pathologists investigate
all manners of death to the full extent of inpatient medical autopsy studies
and submit complete reports to LMC physicians involved in the care of patients
within the coroner’s investigation.

Possibly uniquely in the United States, annual QA reports to the medical staff
indentify opportunities to improve care. Thorough investigations of infant
deaths have led to a significant decrease in the number of accidental infant
deaths (SIDS) in Lexington County, and a significant decrease in the number
of sudden, unexpected cardiac deaths. Observations of sudden cardiac death in
the coroner system led directly to LMC offering 24/7 STAT AMI profiling in
1994, which has significantly decreased the number of cardiac deaths after
discharge from a community medical center or ER visit. LMC was the first
hospital in the Midlands to offer this service. Similar results of death
investigations have prompted the urgency of physician office referrals of patients
presenting with acute coronary symptoms directly to a CMC or LMC’s ER.

By using coroner autopsy findings as a medical staff quality assurance process,
we have identified the absence of a personal physician as the single greatest
risk factor; refusal to seek medical care is the second most important risk factor.
Other survival benefits resulting from the coroner/medical examiner interface
include improvements in EMS intubation of critically ill infants, the evaluation
of prosthetic cardiac valve dysfunction and treatment of excess anticoagulant
medication.

Electronic Health Records, known as EHR, move medical documentation into the 21st century by putting patient information at our fingertips with the simple touch of a button.

Health care providers will now access patient charts and securely exchange clinical information using computers, instead of paper patient charts. .

Doctors will be able to order and manage lab work electronically, reducing the time patients wait for tests and results. Results are added to the patient’s electronic chart allowing the clinicians and physicians greater opportunity to trend patient progress.

Staff can enter actions in the computer for a provider to complete such as reviewing results or signing notes. These processes can allow more time to be spent administering direct patient care.

Referrering doctors will have improved access to the patient record which will help enhance continuity of care.

EHR shows potentially dangerous drug interactions and keeps up-to-date lists of diagnoses, medications and allergies. The system also allows providers to send e-prescriptions to pharmacies so that your medications are ready when you get there.

Importantly, the system will maintain a secure place for health information, as both processes and system controls are in place to ensure access is based on need to know.

Some of Lexington Medical Center’s physician practices are already using EHR. Many more will be added this year. The transformation to EHR is required by federal law as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We believe this change is good and consistent with Lexington Medical Center’s mission of providing quality health services to our community.

LMC Mobile will allow you to search for a doctor, find a baby photo, get directions and call a room with ease, using just one touch of your fingertip. You can also watch physician videos and send a patient an e-card.

That’s important. Statistics show that last year, 73 million people accessed the web with a mobile browser. In addition, our hospital has seen an 8,203% increase (no, that’s not a typo) in the number of people accessing our hospital website from a mobile device.

And it’s all the same quality you expect from www.lexmed.com. Our hospital’s website has received national honors including Best Overall Website, Best Content and Best Design in numerous competitions.

Check out LMC Mobile by visiting www.lexmed.com from your smart phone! The site will automatically recognize you are using a mobile phone. And let us know what you think!

Dr. Nicholas Limperos graduated from Mount Union College in Ohio and received his medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He joins Southern Surgical Group specializing in state-of-the-art general, vascular, endovascular, laparoscopic and thoracic surgery.

Here’s a video of Dr. Limperos talking about what he likes about LMC.

Dr. James Wells received his undergraduate degree at Furman University and completed his medical degree and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is a member of the Christian Medical Dental Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology and the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Volunteering is also important to Dr. Wells, having traveled to Venezuela and Romania to help patients in need with the Medical Campus Outreach Summer Medical Institute.

“I am pleased to join Lexington Oncology Associates because of the high quality care they provide while working as a team to improve the lives of cancer patients in their local community,” said Dr. Wells.

Now, a new treatment is prolonging life for men who have prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Lexington Medical Center has begun using a first-of-its-kind treatment known as Provenge to treat these men.

Provenge works by using the patient’s own blood cells to help fight the cancer.

“It’s a way to stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer,” said Dr. Steve Madden, oncologist at Lexington Oncology Associates, a physician practice that’s part of Lexington Medical Center.

Here is a video from the Provenge website.

Provenge requires a several step process. First, clinicians withdraw some immune cells from the patient’s blood. Second, the cells undergo a process where white blood cells – which contain immunity cells – are incubated in a lab with antigens (proteins) that stimulate the cells to fight against prostate cancer. Finally, the cells are infused back into the patient.

So far, Provenge has been shown to be successful in prolonging life for patients with metastasized prostate cancer. Studies have shown that Provenge can extend the average life span to more than two years. That’s good news. Once prostate cancer has spread, it often goes to the bones and lymph nodes, which can be deadly.

In theory, doctors say you could use the same kind of process for other types of cancer in the future. Provenge is FDA approved and covered by Medicare.

Pickney Produce, a local farm cooperative, will be on hand with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Nan Faile, a member of the hospital’s clinical staff, will lead an education session on the importance of earth worms in gardens and how to start an earth worm farm.

Accounting will sign up employees for electronic payroll vouchers, which will reduce the amount of paper the hospital uses.

There will be drawings for prizes ranging from fruit trees, flowers and hanging potted plants to memberships to environmentally friendly organizations.

Lexington Medical Center has always been a leader in environmentally friendly programs.

The hospital is home to the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certified medical office building. Lexington Medical Park 2 was built with eco friendly features. In addition, the hospital has an extensive recycling program, recycling more than 2 million pounds of municipal and construction debris each year, saving thousands of cubic yards of landfill space. Also, the hospital has about 80 employees who carpool and other employees telecommute from home.

The hospital has received accolades for an environmentally innovative program for wrapping surgical equipment. The Sterile Processing department eliminated paper blue wrap by replacing it with reusable containers. This project alone saved 63 trees in its first year.

Lexington Medical Center has also earned numerous honors for its environmental effors from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

For more information about our “Green Giants,” click here.

Faye Baker and Lori Sutton

Baker and Sutton’s research focused on the temperatures of blankets warmed for patients after surgery. Regulations from the Emergency Care Research Institute said the blankets had to be set at 110 degrees. But the nurses noticed that patients were still cold with 110 degree blankets, and that even at 110 degrees, the blankets felt like room temperature.

“Sometimes I would hear nurses tell patients ‘I’m sorry it’s not very warm’ before covering a patient with a 110 degree blanket,” Sutton said.

In comparison, clothes that are fresh out of a dryer are at 200 degrees.

Sutton and Baker wanted to see if blankets warmed to 155 degrees instead of 110 would provide more thermal comfort while still maintaining patient safety. After going through the proper channels to receive permission, they enrolled 156 consenting patients in a study. Over the course of six weeks, some of the patients received 110 degree blankets while others received 155 degree blankets.

The result? Patients with the 155 degree blankets had a 1 to 2 degree warmer skin temperature and reported a higher level of comfort than the patients with the 110 degree blankets.

“When you put a 155 blanket on a patient, they say ‘Oohhh, thank you so much,’” Baker said.

The nurses will present their study at the South Carolina Nursing Excellence Conference. And, they have been accepted for both podium and poster presentations at the national convention for the American Society of Perianesthesia Nurses in Seattle this month.

“We would love to see more nurses involved in research,” Baker said. “We researched and proved through testing that the warmer blankets are safe and more comforting to patients.”

Lexington Medical Center is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Duke to provide a full range of cardiovascular services at Lexington Medical Center. Lexington Medical Center will affiliate with Duke Medicine’s internationally recognized heart program, one of the world’s leading cardiovascular clinical research programs, to begin procedures including open heart surgery and elective angioplasty at Lexington Medical Center in 2011.

“Our collaboration with Duke will allow our community to receive excellent heart care at Lexington Medical Center,” said Mike Biediger, president & CEO of Lexington Medical Center. “We will enhance the delivery of health care and save lives.”

Through its affiliation, Lexington Medical Center will benefit from Duke’s clinical expertise and services to build a premier, comprehensive heart program. Duke University Hospital, recognized as one of the top ten heart hospitals in the nation by U.S. News and World Report and the only top ten program in the Southeast, will lend its expertise in helping to find the best cardiovascular surgeons and cardiac anesthesiologists in the nation to work at Lexington Medical Center. Duke will assist with the recruitment and training of nurses and staff, design of the open heart surgery operating room, implementation of policies and procedures as well as comprehensive oversight of quality and development for all cardiovascular services at Lexington Medical Center. And, Lexington Medical Center will have access to the latest advances in cardiovascular care.

“We are excited to begin working with Lexington Medical Center to expand cardiovascular services in this community,” said Harry R. Phillips, M.D., chief medical officer for Network Services and associate director of the Duke Heart Center for Duke University Health System. “This hospital’s commitment to quality and service excellence coupled with the expertise and collegiality of the cardiology practices provides the foundation for us to collaboratively build a cardiac surgical program that will ensure comprehensive cardiac services unparalleled in the region.”

The ability to provide a full range of cardiovascular services has been a goal of Lexington Medical Center for years. The hospital operates the second busiest Emergency Department in South Carolina, treating more than 94,000 patients each year. The hospital also operates two busy catheterization labs. Statistics from the Office of Research and Statistics show that 337 people from Lexington County required open heart surgery in 2007. Lexington County is one of the fastest growing counties in South Carolina, and the largest without an open heart surgery program.

The Duke Heart Center is a global leader in advancing the care of people with heart disease. As part of Duke Medicine, which is also home to the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the world’s largest and oldest outcomes registry, the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease, its accomplishments in the area of cardiovascular care include medical firsts, innovation, research and education. In fiscal year 2010, the Duke University Health System performed more than 8,500 diagnostic catheterizations and 2,000 angioplasties, along with more than 1,800 open heart surgeries, 100 lung transplants and 64 heart transplants. The Duke Heart Center has extensive experience working with hospitals throughout the Southeast to strengthen and expand cardiac services at the local level while ensuring access to the highly specialized services only available at an academic medical center.

Procedures included in Lexington Medical Center’s new cardiovascular program will be open heart surgery and expansion of therapeutic catheterizations to include elective angioplasty.

Lexington Medical Center expects to begin its new cardiac surgical program in 2011, with two heart surgeons and a team of nurses and staff with special training in cardiac care, including intensive post-surgery cardiac and pulmonary monitoring. Duke will assist Lexington Medical Center with development and implementation of this program in conjunction with overall consultative support for all cardiac services.

A forensic artist rendering created by a CT scan at LMC

Last year, investigators found a skeleton in Horry County. They determined the remains belonged to a man who died of gunshot wounds. But they could never learn the man’s identity. That’s when they turned to Lexington Medical Center.

SLED asked Lexington Medical Center to perform a CT scan on the man’s skull. CT stands for computed tomography. The CT scanner uses X-rays to produce cross-sectional images of the human body.
In this case, Lexington Medical Center used a 16 slice CT scanner in its Radiology department. Precise measurements from the scan allowed forensic artists to recreate a model of the man’s face. The CT scan also generated a 3D image of the face. The scan has helped to create an accurate depiction of the man’s appearance. It’s believed to be the first time that SLED has called on a hospital for this kind of work.

“CT scans are an important piece of medical technology,” said Doug Weitzel, director of Radiology at Lexington Medical Center. “Not only do the scans provide highly detailed pictures to help identify and treat illnesses, but this case illustrates the important impact in an additional capacity.”

SLED and the Horry County Police Department are circulating images of the facial reconstruction. Anyone who recognizes the man should call the Horry County Police Department at 843-915-5350.

“I hope that Lexington Medical Center’s work helps solve the case,” Weitzel said.

Lexington Medical Center is home to many types of innovative technology in its Radiology department. Lexington Medical Center was the first hospital in South Carolina to perform Microwave Ablation, which can destroy tumors in an outpatient procedure that does not require surgery. Recently, Lexington Medical Center began performing Coronary CTA on a CT scanner, providing exquisitely detailed images of the coronary arteries. Lexington Medical Center also offers Calcium Scoring to check for calcified plaque in the coronary arteries as well as Vertebroplasty and Kyphyoplasty for patients with compression fractures.