Retired doctor and Lake County resident Aaron Dworin recalled walking into the angiography suite at a Northwestern Medicine facility, where he was being treated for an enlarged prostate, and marveling at the technology.
“They had what must have been a 7-foot screen where they could observe as they were doing the procedure,” Dworin said. “It was really very striking.”
He was describing the facility’s new angiographic suite, which includes equipment that wouldn’t look out of place in a science fiction film — clean white arms and sensors that can swing around a patient lying on a hospital bed, with a massive screen and a control panel reminiscent of an especially complicated arcade game.
Within a few hours, Dworin would be out the door and back home, and by the next day, exercising and enjoying the benefits of the marvels of modern medical technology.
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But one of the key factors that Dworin and the clinic’s leadership highlight is where he got treated. It wasn’t a big city hospital, but rather an outpatient center in Grayslake.
The 450,000-square-foot center, which sees over 300,000 patients every year according to staff, has been expanding its services, and the facility’s leaders want people to know it is a community resource.
‘Bilateral super-selective prostatic artery embolization’
Dworin previously worked for Northwestern Medicine at its Lake Forest facility, but retired in 2016. It was “just remarkable” to see the technology that has come in over the decade since.
He underwent a procedure known as a “bilateral super-selective prostatic artery embolization.” In simpler language, doctors located the arteries feeding the prostate gland using dye injected into the blood, then partially blocked the blood flow to diminish the prostate.
Dr. Elias Hohlastos, interventional radiology medical director for the north region of Northwestern Medicine, described it as an increasingly common procedure for treating enlarged prostates.
The treatment Dworin received, while not as “tried and true” as the more typical surgeries, was less invasive, carried fewer risks, and had Dworin back home within hours, all possible because of “cutting-edge” technology, as Hohlastos described it, like the angio suite.
Kathryn Thomas, director of operations at Northwestern Medicine Grayslake, said having a facility with such services and modern equipment locally in Lake County is valuable for patients.
Outpatient centers primarily differ from hospitals in that they don’t have overnight stays; any treatments or procedures are done within a few hours and patients are back home the same day.
But they offer many important medical services and can treat many people, such as those with chronic conditions, who may have assumed they needed to travel to a faraway major hospital, hospital leaders said.
Dworin, for his part, spoke glowingly about not having to drive into the city, both for the prostate procedure and other treatments he and his wife have received at Grayslake.
“It’s just wonderfully located,” Dworin said.
But despite the convenience, Thomas said many patients say “they had no idea it was here.” She wanted to inform the public about the facility, which can be a better option in some cases than going to a hospital.
“This is a location where you can receive all your medical care,” Thomas said. “It’s ensuring that the community understands the depth and breadth of care they can receive at Grayslake.”
The center has grown since opening its doors in 2004, and the last few years have seen the center expand its offerings after a recent reorganization to give more physical space for several key services, in everything from breast imaging to endoscopy procedures, with new equipment such as CT scanners and Northwestern Medicine’s first angio suite outside of a main hospital campus.