Embracing robotic technology in the realms of microsurgery will have significant benefits for patients, clinicians and hospitals. Leading hand and peripheral nerve specialist Professor Philippe Liverneaux believes using robots will not only enhance patient outcomes and improve cosmetic appearance but also bring significant cost benefits to health systems.
A debate has flared up across the United Kingdom over which genre of music should be played in the operating theatre during surgery. Amid claims that loud music can be distracting to some surgical personnel, questions have also been posed as to who should choose the music – the head surgeon or nurse? How loud it should be played, or should music is permissible in the operating theatre (OT) at…
The hybrid operating room is one of the most innovative developments in the surgical sector. The combination of interventional and minimally invasive surgical procedures is exciting for many clinical disciplines. The room design, intraoperative imaging techniques as well as interdisciplinary collaboration play a pivotal role in this.
Intelligent robots supervised by surgeons could help remove human error from the operating room. Dr. Peter C. Kim, Vice President and Associate Surgeon-in-Chief at Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Health System (CNSH) in Washington, D.C., and his colleagues designed and programmed “Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot”, or simply STAR, to successfully…
‘An autonomously working robot in the operating theatre will continue to be a vision of the future for a long time to come,’ according to Professor Uwe Spetzger, Clinical Director and Neurosurgery Specialist at Karlsruhe City Hospital. At the same time, he is calling for political support for the development and promotion of these innovative technologies and asking funding bodies to rethink…
Robot-assisted surgery still meets with considerable skepticism even though Intuitive Surgical’s Da Vinci system has been around for more than a decade. However, few surgeons and researchers are seeking ways to expand the surgical toolbox. Not so the members of the working group ‘Surgical technology and training’ at the General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery Department, University…
3-D print technology is expanding to cardiology surgery and interventional procedures. Research is scarce in Europe but a group of Spain-based cardiologists are currently developing 3-D print models to assess their value in the heart.
John Herman, European Marketing Manager of Sony Healthcare Solutions, explains the potential of 3-D and 4K technologies in medicine.
3D imaging is continuously improving, with devices simultaneously becoming more manageable and mobile. The new C-arm system Ziehm Vision RFD 3D is opening up a new dimension. The device was tested by Dr Jan-Sven Jarvers, orthopaedic and trauma surgery specialist at the University Hospital Leipzig, and was introduced last September during the Eurospine Congress in Copenhagen. ‘In the future,…
Wound infections after surgery are not uncommon and can be fatal. In Germany, postoperative wound infections are now the most common type of hospital acquired infection (HAI), with a proportion of 24%.
The University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) is launching a major international clinical trial to test a minimally invasive and safer surgical approach for patients with lung cancer: video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy with ultrasonic pulmonary artery sealing.
Previously known as a provider of high quality, high-end monitors, Eizo is developing into a systems solutions supplier.
Doctors and scientists at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City printed and used a 3D kidney to help save a patient's organ during a complicated tumor-removal procedural. The 3D-printed model allowed doctors to study the patient's kidney in 3D to determine how to best remove the tumor as it was located in a precarious location adjacent to vital arteries and veins. Thanks to the model of…
During many and various 2015 medical congresses 3-D visualisation has been a key topic as the industry continues to introduce improved hardware and software in ever-shorter intervals. Interventional medicine is entering a new dimension, was a popular slogan. The crystal clear, coloured visualisation of body cavities previously only visible in cloudy black and white may be fascinating, but it does…
Sony Medical offers an end-to-end video processing chain for medical-grade 4K surgical visualisation. The conversion will not happen overnight, but 4K is a natural next step for improving visualisation during surgery, according to John Herman, the European Marketing Manager for Surgical Solutions at Sony Medical.
Coronary or peripheral bypasses are the most frequently performed vascular operations. Although one million patients per year and around the world, undergo this intervention, its failure rate reaches 50%, because of poor vessel healing, leading to vessel graft occlusion. To improve the outcome of bypasses, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) work together with medical doctors from…
Jersey Shore University Medical Center, part of Meridian CardioVascular Network, is the first hospital in New Jersey to implant the Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) – the world’s smallest pacemaker – since the device gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in April 2016.
Most accidents result from ‘the human factor’ – long acknowledged in aviation. Thus all crew members receive regular safety training to help prevent errors on board and on the ground. Now experts at the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU) with those from Lufthansa Flight Training have developed a similar training programme for physicians. This Interpersonal Competence Training…
The same 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) technology that is surging as the next wave in consumer television has broken into the medical market with the presentation of two first-to-market laparoscopes.
To make a good framework for filling in missing bone, mix at least 30 percent pulverized natural bone with some special man-made plastic and create the needed shape with a 3D printer. That’s the recipe for success reported by researchers at The Johns Hopkins University.
The Materialise Mimics Care Suite is an open and flexible platform that includes planning and design software tools, 3D printed anatomical models and surgical guides, and patient-specific implants. Launched during AAOS, the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeon’s Annual Meeting, the Suite also introduces Materialise Mimics inPrint, a new software solution that enables surgeons to create…
As medical professionals search for new ways to personalize diagnosis and treatment of disease, RPB-supported researchers at the University of Iowa have already put into practice what may be the next big step in precision medicine: personalized proteomics.
What started as a stuffy-nose and mild cold symptoms for 15-year-old Parker Turchan led to a far more serious diagnosis: a rare type of tumor in his nose and sinuses that extended through his skull near his brain. “He had always been a healthy kid, so we never imagined he had a tumor,” said Parker’s father, Karl. “We didn’t even know you could get a tumor in the back of your nose.”
Every year, tens of millions of individuals across Europe undergo endoscopic procedures to assist with the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal diseases. However, significant variation in current endoscopy provision across Europe has been reported, with back-to-back colonoscopy studies demonstrating that a concerning 22 percent of all adenomas are missed and that a three-to-six fold…