St. Luke’s University Health Network capped a year of growth in the Lehigh Valley by becoming among the first health systems in Pennsylvania to use the Pi-Cardia ShortCut device for high-risk heart valve procedures and by opening a new Women’s Imaging Center at its Bethlehem Campus.
The region’s largest employer pressed ahead with new technology, new facilities and expanded emergency care across 2025, adding diagnostic options for women and advanced cardiac tools for patients with complex anatomy. Here is a look at what changed and what it means for patients across Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and the surrounding communities.
A first-in-state heart valve procedure
On Nov. 18, 2025, St. Luke’s performed its first procedure using the Pi-Cardia ShortCut device, placing it among the first health networks in Pennsylvania to deploy the technology. The device was used during a valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic valve replacement, known as ViV TAVR, for a patient who had a previously implanted surgical bioprosthetic aortic valve nearing the end of its useful life.
The minimally invasive approach allows physicians to place a new valve inside the old one using a catheter inserted through a small incision in the patient’s groin, avoiding repeat open-heart surgery. The ShortCut device is designed to gently split the old valve’s leaflet before the new valve goes in, helping to keep the leaflet from blocking the coronary arteries.
The procedure was performed by Christopher L. Sarnoski, DO, section chief of interventional cardiology and medical director of structural heart disease, along with Jose D. Amortegui, MD, chief of cardiac surgery.
“This device represents a major step forward in protecting patients with complex anatomy,” Amortegui said. Sarnoski added that “ShortCut™ provides a safer and more durable solution for many of these complex cases.”
Who benefits from the new technology
The technique is aimed at a specific group of cardiac patients, those whose anatomy makes a standard valve-in-valve procedure risky. By precisely splitting the existing leaflet, the device is intended to:
Prevent the old valve’s leaflet from obstructing the coronary arteries
Make valve-in-valve TAVR safer for patients with low coronary height
Offer a minimally invasive alternative to a second open-heart surgery
For patients who once had limited options, the approach expands the pool of people who can be treated with a catheter-based procedure rather than a more invasive operation.
A new Women's Imaging Center in Bethlehem
Earlier in the fall, St. Luke’s opened a new Women’s Imaging Center at its Bethlehem Campus, expanding access to breast care in a central Lehigh Valley location. The center reported opening in early October 2025.
The center offers a full range of diagnostic breast services, including:
Screening mammograms
Diagnostic mammography on GE HealthCare’s Senographe Pristina system with 3D breast tomosynthesis
Diagnostic breast ultrasound
Stereotactic and ultrasound-guided biopsies
“This investment in advanced imaging technology is a reflection of St. Luke’s commitment to providing the very best individualized breast care for each patient based on their unique history and risk factors,” said Michele Brands, network director of Women’s Imaging.
Karl N. Yaeger, MD, division chief of Women’s Imaging, said the network “is committed to improving access to mammography and breast ultrasound services for women in the Lehigh Valley.” The new center adds a centrally located option as health systems nationally have worked to address longer wait times for mammography services that grew after the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bigger emergency room in Upper Bucks
St. Luke’s also expanded emergency care beyond the Lehigh Valley’s core. In October 2025, the network cut the ribbon on an expanded emergency department at its Upper Bucks Campus in Quakertown.
The $8 million, 11,000-square-foot project added 12 new patient treatment bays, bringing the campus to 28 individual emergency rooms, up from 16. The expanded department is built to treat up to 40,000 patients a year. The project drew on $2.5 million in state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funds.
Growth across a regional footprint
The new technology and facilities arrived as St. Luke’s solidified its position as the Lehigh Valley’s largest employer, with more than 23,000 employees in 2025, the year Bucks County’s Grand View Health, in Sellersville, joined the network on July 1, 2025. The network operates 16 hospital campuses and more than 350 outpatient sites across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Separately, in December 2025 St. Luke’s announced it would assume full ownership of Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, by ending a joint venture, with the transition expected to take effect in 2026 pending regulatory approval.
Taken together, the 2025 additions point to a strategy of layering advanced specialty care, such as structural heart procedures, on top of broader access points like imaging centers and emergency departments closer to where patients live.
St. Luke's Expansion at a Glance
St. Luke’s was among the first in Pennsylvania to use the Pi-Cardia ShortCut device, performing its first procedure on Nov. 18, 2025.
The device was used in a valve-in-valve TAVR, a catheter-based alternative to repeat open-heart surgery for patients with complex anatomy.
The procedure was led by Christopher L. Sarnoski, DO, and Jose D. Amortegui, MD.
A new Women’s Imaging Center opened at the Bethlehem Campus in early October 2025, offering mammography, ultrasound and biopsy services.
The imaging center uses GE HealthCare’s Senographe Pristina system with 3D breast tomosynthesis.
An $8 million ER expansion at the Upper Bucks Campus added 12 treatment bays, reaching 28 emergency rooms and capacity for up to 40,000 patients a year.
St. Luke’s employed more than 23,000 people across 16 campuses and 350-plus outpatient sites in 2025.
