February 6, 2008 - The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) opens the doors of Ashley River Tower, its new state-of-the-art hospital designed to treat patients with cardiovascular and digestive disease problems, marking the first step in the hospital’s multiphase expansion plan, which will ultimately replace the facility that for 50 years has served as the teaching hospital for MUSC.
This new 641,000 square foot facility has 156 beds, including 32 ICU beds, as well as nine operating rooms, catheterization laboratories, interventional radiology laboratories, state-of-the-art endoscopy suites, imaging suites, outpatient clinic space and a dedicated around-the-clock chest pain center for rapid diagnosis and treatment. Specially sized equipment, treatment space and ICU beds accommodate bariatric surgery patients.
The Ashley River Tower addresses two primary areas of need: the increase in cardiovascular and digestive diseases. Patients have access to all diagnostic and treatment services, including inpatient and outpatient clinical services, in one convenient location.
Each operating suite in the facility has multiple flat screen monitors to allow surgeons to view surgical images more easily. Anything that is on the patient’s electronic record, whether it be an image from a catheterization, lab results or an echocardiogram, can instantaneously be brought up on a monitor in the operating room with the touch of a button. The new MUSC hospital is one of the first in the nation to have this capability in the operating room.
The facility also is equipped with new technology to greatly enhance patient safety and reduce infection and promote a "green" environment. A new electronic medical records system captures all patient-related information in one central location, making records more easily accessible to referring physicians and caregivers as well as reducing the use of paper. A central sterile corridor allows doctors and nurses to quickly cross between operating rooms during an emergency.
Total cost of the hospital project is approximately $275 million. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development insured $401 million in bonds to finance the hospital project. For more information, visit
For more information: www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com/ashleyrivertower
April 30, 2024 
