A fascinating and rare glimpse into the main catheter room at Okayama Medical Center (OMC) in Okayama, Japan. I like to call this room the lung repair shop or the lung tuneup shop. I had the pleasure of several treatments in this very room where the magic truly happens.

Let’s visit it together and take a look at the action.

The main catheter room at Okayama Medical Center in Okayama, Japan. The room features an advanced imaging system. Multiple joints in the scanner arms and rails on the ceiling allow the operator to precisely position each element for optimal views.

Dr. Hiromi Matsubara, MD. PhD, the Deputy Director of the OMC and head of the hospital’s pulmonary hypertensionPulmonary Hypertension (PH) High pressure in the blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs is called pulmonary hypertension. The arteries in the lungs and the right side of the heart are affected by pulmonary hypertension. If untreated, the right side of the heart will weaken over time, eventually leading to heart failure and death. The WHO has defined five distinct groups of pulmonary hypertension, each with a different cause. CTEPH is a form of PH (WHO group 4). - References: mayoclinic.org and cdc.gov team, explained that his hospital is one of two high-volume CTEPHChronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension CTEPH is short for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, a rare form of high blood pressure in the lungs caused by blood clots or narrowed blood vessels. High blood pressure in the lungs is often also called pulmonary hypertension. expert centers in Japan. In addition to pulmonary endarterectomyPulmonary Endarterectomy For patients with operable CTEPH, pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) remains the treatment of choice. Obstructive material (old blood clots and scar tissue) is surgically removed from the arteries in the lungs. PEA is technically challenging, requiring intermittent total circulatory arrest conducted under severe hypothermia. Yet, PEA has been demonstrated to improve pulmonary hemodynamics and survival rate, which is otherwise poor in CTEPH patients. PEA is also known as pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE). - References: Darocha et al., 2021. doi: 10.3390/jcm10051038 and Pulmonary Endarterectomy - St Vincent's Lung Health. Retrieved 6 November 2022 (surgical removal of clots), BPABalloon Pulmonary Angioplasty Balloon pulmonary angioplasty, or BPA for short, is a technique for widening narrowed or blocked blood vessels in the lungs of CTEPH patients. Small balloons attached to a catheter restore blood flow to areas of the lungs that do not receive blood due to the disease.  When successful, BPA eliminates or reduces shortness of breath, increases exercise tolerance and quality of life, and extends life expectancy. is performed on approximately 60 patients yearly, and a patient typically requires four BPA sessions. The National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center near Osaka is Japan’s second high-volume center.

Okayama Medical Center hosts one of the most experienced BPA centers in the world [1], and let me tell you, the medical team’s proficiency is quite evident.

The doctors in action are Dr. Hiromi Matsubara, Dr. Hirofumi Okada, and Dr. Michiko Ueki.
  • Right to left: Dr. Hiromi Matsubara, Dr. Hirofumi Okada, and Dr. Michiko Ueki. I am somewhere under all that plastic.
  • That’s me, patiently waiting until I can have that drink. It never happened. No alcohol in the hospital 🙁
  • Images of the blood vessels in my lungs and my vital signs on the monitors.
  • The way they look at it, my lungs’ insides must be adorable.

The photos in this post were taken by the OMC with my permission on October 28, 2022, during my second BPA procedure. Many thanks to Dr. Matsubara for the photo opportunity and for allowing me to publish these images.

References

[1] Ejiri, K., Ogawa, A., Shimokawahara, H., & Matsubara, H. (2022). Treatment of Vascular Injury During Balloon Pulmonary AngioplastyBalloon Pulmonary Angioplasty Balloon pulmonary angioplasty, or BPA for short, is a technique for widening narrowed or blocked blood vessels in the lungs of CTEPH patients. Small balloons attached to a catheter restore blood flow to areas of the lungs that do not receive blood due to the disease.  When successful, BPA eliminates or reduces shortness of breath, increases exercise tolerance and quality of life, and extends life expectancy. in Patients With Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary HypertensionChronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension CTEPH is short for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, a rare form of high blood pressure in the lungs caused by blood clots or narrowed blood vessels. High blood pressure in the lungs is often also called pulmonary hypertension.. JACC. Asia, 2(7), 831–842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacasi.2022.08.011.