A new state of the art laboratory, which will benefit children with heart problems, is being built at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin (OLCHC).

The hospital is the national centre for the provision of cardiac surgery for children and this new Hybrid Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory will receive its first patients in early 2016.

A catheter is a thin, flexible and hollow tube. With cardiac catheterisation, a thin plastic catheter is passed into the chambers of the heart. It can also be passed into the main blood vessels of the heart - the coronary arteries. This allows doctors to find out detailed information about the heart and coronary arteries, and in some cases, it is possible to provide treatment at the same time.

According to Dr Paul Oslizlok, a consultant paediatric cardiologist at the hospital, the current cardiac catheterisation laboratory ‘is at the end of its shelf life'.

He explained that this laboratory allows the hospital ‘to perform cardiac catheterisations to help diagnose heart problems in children, as well as repair heart problems that once required open-heart surgery'.

"This new unit will allow cardiologists to perform catheter-based procedures and if necessary, surgeons to perform open-heart surgery. The combination of these two functions is especially important in a critical care situation, when every minute counts," he said.

He pointed out that without the need to transfer a patient from a catheterisation lab to an operating room, ‘surgeons are able to react immediately resulting in significantly improved patient outcomes'.

"Used for both preventative and interventional care, the Hybrid Catheterisation Lab gives physicians full access to equipment needed for any cardiac condition, including leading-edge imaging equipment, allowing for the best quality care for our patients," Dr Oslizlok noted.

The laboratory will be funded by taxpayers through the HSE at a cost of €5.6 million.

Also commenting on the news, Health Minister Leo Varadkar, said that the new lab will allow staff ‘to work at the highest level of international practice'.

"I am especially pleased that it will treat children from across Ireland, north and south," he added.