MAQUET Restructures U.S. Sales and Services Organization to Meet Needs of Growing Market for Hybrid Operating Rooms

WAYNE, N.J., Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MAQUET, a global leader in medical systems, today announced that it has restructured its U.S. Sales and Services Unit to meet the broader needs of customers across all areas of clinical care.  As part of this restructuring, MAQUET now offers a comprehensive disease therapy team dedicated to servicing customers who are building a Hybrid Operating Room (OR).

An estimated 100 hospitals in the United States currently have a Hybrid OR, and the number is expected to increase by 15 percent or more over the next few years.  With Hybrid OR's a top investment made by hospitals today and approximately 60 percent of all U.S. hospitals planning for one, Hybrid OR's represent a rapidly growing market.

"In a Hybrid OR, the cath lab doubles as an operating room so a patient undergoing a cardiac catheterization procedure can be quickly moved to surgery if required," explains Niv Ad, M.D., Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Director of Cardiac Surgery Research, Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, Fairfax, Va.  "Hybrid OR's offer the potential for improved patient outcomes, as they allow physicians to perform a full range of procedures within one setting and eliminate the need to move a critically ill patient to a different room of the hospital."

MAQUET's new Hybrid Surgery Group will partner with Philips Medical and Siemens Medical to provide comprehensive therapy solutions for this growing market, including a surgical table that can be fully integrated with the imaging system,  as well as ceiling booms, cardiac perfusion pumps, intra-aortic balloon pumps, anesthesia systems, surgical lights and OR data integration for advanced surgical suite control.  Sophisticated, and fully integrated, this HYBRID Operating Room is now available from a single source supplier.  

MAQUET has launched a new website -- MAQUET-HybridOperatingRoom.com -- that provides information about planning, implementing, building and equipping a highly complex Hybrid OR.  The website also includes information about specific equipment for a Hybrid OR and multimedia features such as a slideshow, images, videos and downloadable resources. 

"MAQUET is the single-source provider of comprehensive Hybrid OR solutions, with more than 10 years of experience leading the development of Hybrid OR's for medical centers around the world," said Raoul Quintero, President, MAQUET U.S. Sales and Service Organization.  "With the creation of our new Hybrid Surgery Group and through our partnerships with the most advanced imaging partners, we are committed to helping teams of clinicians effectively plan for and introduce this new approach into their hospitals."

About the Hybrid OR
A Hybrid OR is a state-of-the-art operating suite housing all of the equipment and monitoring devices necessary to perform open heart surgeries, such as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) and procedures, including angioplasty and stenting.

For patients suffering from coronary artery disease (CAD) and in need of a bypass procedure, rather than going straight to a traditional operating room for CABG surgery, many can be treated in a less-invasive manner in a Hybrid OR.  Containing both an OR and a cardiac catheterization lab, a Hybrid OR offers an opportunity to combine minimally invasive cardiac surgery with percutaneous coronary interventions, eliminating the need to move a critically ill patient to a different room on a different floor of the hospital.  Hybrid OR's provide hospitals with the ability to successfully perform complex cases less invasively.

The combined suite allows physicians to perform a full range of procedures within one setting, including performing an angiogram directly following a cardiac surgical procedure to ensure grafts are in place and blood is flowing properly.  Because Hybrid OR's contain sophisticated imaging equipment, patients do not have to be sent to separate imaging suites, which is more efficient and safer for patients.  By transcending medical discipline boundaries, Hybrid OR's also facilitate collaboration between specialists, such as cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons.  The result is more efficient workflows, optimized processes and streamlined, coordinated patient care.  As Hybrid OR's are expected to lead to better patient outcomes and shorter lengths of stay, they could result in significant cost savings to the overall healthcare system. 

INFORMATION ABOUT MAQUET

As a trusted partner for hospitals and clinicians since 1838, MAQUET is a global leader in medical systems that advance surgical interventions, cardiovascular procedures and critical care. MAQUET develops and designs innovative products and therapeutic applications for the operating room, hybrid OR/cath lab, intensive care unit and patient transport within acute care hospitals, improving outcomes and quality of life for patients.

Cardiovascular specialties include intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABC) therapy for cardiac assist, coronary artery bypass surgery, aortic and peripheral vascular surgery, and extracorporeal circulation.

The Critical Care portfolio includes market-leading intensive care ventilators and anesthesia machines.

MAQUET also equips Surgical Workplaces with critical infrastructure such as flexible room design for OR and ICU, OR tables, lights and ceiling supply units, and OR integration for image data management.

MAQUET is a subsidiary of the publicly listed Swedish Getinge Group. In 2010, MAQUET generated nearly half of the Group's annual revenue of 2.3 billion Euros. The Getinge Group has more than 12,000 employees worldwide, including around 5,000 MAQUET employees in 36 international sales and service organizations, as well as a network of more than 250 sales representatives. For more information please visit www.maquet.com and www.getingegroup.com.

MAQUET – The Gold Standard.

SOURCE MAQUET