Cathlab Interior & Infrastructure Design

What makes a cathlab different

Unlike a diagnostic CT or MRI room, a cathlab is a procedure room first. That changes the brief entirely: sterile-adjacent flooring and finishes, a scrub area, control room sightlines into the procedure room, and services — gas, suction, power — routed to table-side without compromising the sterile field.

Planning a cathlab as though it were a diagnostic imaging room produces a room that images well and functions badly. Planning it as though it were an operating theatre produces the reverse. It has to be both.

Radiation shielding for continuous fluoroscopy

A fixed C-arm in a cath lab runs for extended procedure times, not the few seconds of a diagnostic X-ray exposure. Shielding calculations therefore account for workload and occupancy factors specific to interventional cardiology rather than generic diagnostic assumptions.

That means lead-lined walls, lead glass viewing windows into the control room, and engineered lead doors — correctly lapped, sized for the real leaf weight, and leakage-tested to AERB requirements on completion. See our guide to lead lined doors and why they leak.

Power that cannot fail mid-procedure

A live case cannot lose power. UPS sizing for the imaging console and monitoring equipment, DG backup sized against actual connected and peak load, automatic changeover fast enough that the transfer itself does not interrupt the case, and isolation transformers where power quality demands them.

This is the single most-asked question we get from cathlab owners. See our dedicated guide to power backup for imaging equipment.

Cathlab interior fit-out

The interior is not a finishing layer applied at the end — it is part of the clinical specification:

• Flooring — conductive or anti-static where required, seamless with coved skirting for infection control and cleaning
• Control room — sightlines into the procedure room, console space, and shielded viewing window
• Scrub and prep areas positioned for clean workflow
• Recovery bay design and patient flow through the suite
• Ceilings and services coordinated around ceiling-suspended equipment loads
• Wall finishes that tolerate repeated cleaning without degrading

Structure for ceiling-mounted equipment

A fixed C-arm and ceiling-suspended monitors impose loads that most existing slabs were never designed for. Structural capacity is assessed against the specific equipment, and where it falls short we design and execute the strengthening. See structural certification for OEM equipment.