The Medical Center at Bowling Green is the first hospital in Southcentral Kentucky to offer a Hybrid Operating Room (OR). This new surgery suite combines an operating room with state-of-the-art imaging equipment, including an ARTIS pheno robotic imaging system by Siemens. With this system, patients can undergo both endovascular and open surgical procedures in the same setting. The floor-mounted robotic C-arm system allows for individualized preprocedural planning, intraoperative guidance, and immediate checkup — regardless of patient condition or procedure complexity. The hybrid OR is used primarily for heart and vascular patients.

Hybrid operating rooms have been shown to improve patient outcomes and decrease patient recovery time and length of stay. If time is of the essence, the hybrid OR will make a difference when a life is on the line. In most hospitals, imaging is done in one area, then the patient is transported to OR, then back to diagnostics for follow-up imaging. In a hybrid OR, all three steps can take place in the same room, saving precious time. The hybrid OR at The Medical Center at Bowling Green is constructed in such a way that the operating suite is immediately next to the Cath Lab, which—other than the Emergency Department—is the first stop in the hospital for heart attack victims.