Surgeons at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics began treating patients in new operating rooms that are unique in Iowa and create a new standard of care for highly complex surgical cases.

Javier Campos, MD, executive medical director of the operating rooms, said the rooms are the first in Iowa to incorporate single and biplane X-ray imaging for minimally invasive heart surgeries and interventional neuroradiology, endovascular or neurosurgery cases.

Matthew Howard, MD, professor and head of neurosurgery, said the new operating rooms offer the unique ability to perform both open and endovascular procedures during the same case. Howard said the advanced facility also means more Iowans can now receive this complex care closer to home, especially those diagnosed with aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations in the brain.