Life-saving heart lab to be included in Cape Breton hospital redevelopment

An architectural mock-up of the new lab. (Source: Government of Nova Scotia)

A lab for a heart procedure currently only available in Halifax will be part of a new expansion at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, N.S., said Nova Scotia’s health and wellness minister Friday.

The province says a cardiac catheterization lab will be built in a new clinical services building that is part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Health Care Redevelopment project.

In cardiac catheterizations, a thin, flexible tube is guided through a blood vessel to the heart to diagnose or treat conditions like clogged arteries and to prevent heart attacks.

Dr. Paul MacDonald, chief of cardiology in Nova Scotia Health’s Eastern Zone, says the lab is the biggest health care initiative announced for Cape Breton since the opening of a cancer centre in 1998.

“It will improve patient outcomes, reduce wait times for cardiac services and free up hospital beds in Cape Breton and across the province. This is a major step forward for health care in Cape Breton and for all Nova Scotians,” said MacDonald in a news release.

According to the province, cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of illness and death in Cape Breton.

The hospital says it treats more than 400 patients for heart attacks and more than 500 patients for congestive heart failure every year.

Of the Cape Bretoners who require cardiac catheterization each year, the province says 300 are transported to Halifax by emergency air or ground ambulance.

"This cardiac cath lab will provide life-saving care in Cape Breton, and also make life so much easier for patients, who will be able to have their procedure done in less time than it takes them to get to the causeway," said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, in the release.

The province says construction on the clinical services building is expected to start in 2023.