Rhode Island Hospital History of Firsts

Radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive technique that uses heat to destroy tumors.

Rhode Island Hospital is one of the first to use electronic brachytherapy to treat breast cancer.

The BodyTom™ CT scanner allows imaging to be performed in the operating room, thereby reducing the need to transport patients to and from the radiology department.

First in the World

2002

Physicians from Hasbro Children’s Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital perform a pioneering procedure on twins with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.

2004

Rhode Island Hospital is the first to use microwave ablation to destroy tumors.

2008

Rhode Island Hospital is the first to use the Axxent Electronic Brachytherapy system to treat endometrial cancer and is one of ten centers in the nation to use it to treat early-stage breast cancer.

2011

Hasbro Children’s Hospital creates a first-of-its-kind program for parents who serve as organ donors for their children. The Together Through Transplantation program makes it possible for pediatric patients and their parent-donors to stay in the same hospital room while recovering from organ transplant surgery.

2012

Rhode Island Hospital is the first hospital to acquire the BodyTom CT scanner, a portable, intra-operative, multi-slice CT body scanner. The new technology is used in the surgical treatment of patients with neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, cerebral palsy, and brain and spine tumors.

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First in the Nation

2009

Rhode Island Hospital is first to treat an inoperable kidney tumor using new NanoKnife technology, which employs pulses of electricity to destroy tumor cells.

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First on East Coast or in Northeast

2000

In utero fetal surgery is performed for the first time in the Northeast at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

2000

Rhode Island Hospital becomes the first on the East Coast to offer cardiac CT scans.

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First in New England

2005

Rhode Island Hospital is the first to offer Trilogy, the world’s most powerful and precise image-guided radiotherapy system.

2007

Rhode Island Hospital is the first to open a cardiac catheterization laboratory in an emergency department.

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As the region's only primary stroke center located within a Level 1 trauma center, Rhode Island Hospital is uniquely qualified to provide the most advanced clinical care to acute stroke patients.

First in the Region

2008

Rhode Island Hospital opens an emergency psychiatric unit, the first such unit that is integrated into a hospital setting.

2009

Rhode Island Hospital is first to offer intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemoperfusion for abdominal cancer.

2012

Rhode Island Hospital opens the region’s first dedicated stroke unit. Located on the neurosciences floor, the unit provides disease-specific diagnosis and treatment following admission.

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First in Rhode Island

1998

The first pediatric kidney transplant is performed at Rhode Island Hospital.

2002

The first successful pancreas transplant is performed at Rhode Island Hospital.

2003

Rhode Island Hospital is first to offer PET scans.

2006

Hasbro Children’s Hospital opens an imaging center exclusively for children.

2009

Rhode Island Hospital offers CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery, in partnership with 21st Century Oncology.

A LifePACT ambulance at Rhode Island Hospital

2010

Hasbro Children’s Hospital begins operating LifePACT, the state’s first pediatric critical care transport ambulance.

2011

Rhode Island Hospital acquires the first MRI with functional imaging for neurosurgery.

2012

Rhode Island Hospital launches the first home hemodialysis program, enabling dialysis patients to remain at home for treatment using a portable dialysis machine.

2012

Rhode Island Hospital performs the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure.