Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower

“The building gives you every option, all focused on the patient,” says Alan B. Lumsden, MD, Walter W. Fondren III Distinguished Endowed Chair at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. “There is no building or institution that I am aware of that provides so many options.”

The 22-story structure, with nearly 1 million square feet, includes sophisticated neurosurgery and cardiovascular surgical suites specially designed for highly technical and minimally invasive image-guided heart and brain procedures. Additionally, it has two intensive care and six acute care floors, as well as a helipad, to increase the speed at which we care for patients in need of life-saving treatments.

Four hybrid operating rooms combine robotic-assisted technology with imaging capabilities during surgery, which benefits patients because:

• Image-guided, robotic-assisted technology improves precision, efficiency and safety. Surgeons make smaller incisions, and less invasive surgery means faster recovery times and potentially improved outcomes. Patients also go home more quickly, reducing hospital stays
• Intra-operative imaging allows doctors to better identify and remove blood clots from strokes or cancerous tumors
• Imaging technology in the operating room leads allows doctors to diagnose and perform procedures without leaving the operating room, instead of transporting patients to radiology and then back to surgery.

Intensive care patients will recover in private rooms, providing the extra peace and comfort they need.