Construction begins on $15M, 12,000-square-foot Pa. heart center

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A hospital in northeastern Pennsylvania is spending $15 million to build a 12,000-square-foot heart care center.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reports the Regional Hospital of Scranton is crafting the Commonwealth Health Heart & Vascular Institute.

The center will have three catheterization labs and a lab for treating heart rhythm issues.

A new endovascular suite and hybrid operating room for minimally invasive procedures previously opened in July.

Ten private prep and recovery rooms are planned for the institute, as well as an area where supervised patients can wake up.

The institute will also begin replacing aortic heart valves without performing open heart surgery.

Construction is underway and is expected to be completed in early 2017.

The hospital then plans to expand its intensive care unit from 16 beds to 24.