News • mhealth
'Surgery selfies' could spot serious infections early
Smartphone pictures of post-surgical wounds taken by patients and then assessed by clinicians can help with the early identification of infections, a study has found.
Surgery
News • Lights in the OR
New lighting solution improves illumination of surgical cavities
Vivo Surgical’s Klaro™ in vivo lighting device is designed to improve surgical illumination and provide a clearer view of surgical cavities. Developed in partnership with SingHealth – Singapore’s largest group of healthcare institutions – and Panasonic Lighting (Europe), this LED light solution solves many of the problems associated with traditional operating theatre lighting and…
Article • Augmented reality in the OR
AR helps surgeons to see, feel and understand
X-ray vision, context-sensitive guidance, coordinator, training assistant and more: augmented reality (AR) has hit the OR. While still in its infancy AR does grow rapidly and has already shown enormous potential. University Professor Dr Rüdiger von Eisenhart-Rothe, Chair of Orthopaedics and Sports Orthopaedics at the Technical University Munich, explains the advantages of different AR…
Article • Pre-, post- and interoperative
Wearable devices in the surgical environment
Wearable technology has become an important part of medicine, from tracking vital signs to disease diagnosis. In surgery, wearable technologies can now assist, augment, and provide a means of patient assessment before, during and after surgical procedures. Wearable technologies are applied before the patient even reaches the operating room, for example in prehabilitation, i.e. pre-treatment…
Sponsored • Smart textiles
Elitac Wearables – NeuroShirt
The NeuroShirt, developed from Elitac Wearables in collaboration with the University Medical Centre Utrecht (NL), is a patent-pending smart shirt that helps guide neurosurgeons during complicated skull-base surgeries. It connects to the neuronavigation system and continuously indicates both the distance and direction of critical structures through haptic feedback (vibrations). ‘This way,’ the…
Article • Medica 2021 product presentation
Medtech megatrends and more from Taiwan
Video streaming of surgeries, augmented reality displays and at-home assessment of sleep apnea: Medtech companies from Taiwan will showcase their newest products at Medica in Düsseldorf. Ahead of the trade fair, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) presented award-winning examples of the nation’s ingenuity.
Article • New tools for the OR
Promoting ‘robot readiness’ in surgery
Using surgical robotic systems in OR settings brings many benefits, but there are also challenges that must be overcome before implementing the systems into surgical routine. We spoke with Megan Rosengarten, president of Medtronic’s Surgical Robotics business, about the technology, as well as the company’s efforts to promote the spread of robot-assisted surgery across Europe.
Article • Extended realities in the OR
‘XR is fusing surgical reality with medical images’
Leading medical XR experts gathered at Shift Medical to discuss developments on the use of immersive technologies in medicine. We interviewed Doctor Egidijus Pelanis of Oslo University Hospital, about applying extended realities in the operating room.
Article • Neuro- and spine surgery
Perfection in the networked OR: robot, neuro-navigation and VR headsets
At their workplace, neurosurgeons often have to make compromises since most ORs were not designed with the specific needs of their discipline in mind. To address this issue the University Hospital in Essen, Germany, equipped an OR especially for neuro- and spine surgery. The aim is nothing less than revolutionizing the field with the help of digitalisation and cutting-edge technology.
News • Global guidelines
Urgent changes needed to stop surgical infection
Wound infections are the most common problem after surgery, but promised innovations to tackle the issue do not work and global guidance needs changing.
News • Virtual insights
World's first augmented reality neuromodulation spinal surgery
The first augmented reality (AR) spinal surgery in the world has taken place at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH). Surgeons at NNUH utilised the latest video technology and augmented reality (AR) googles with the assistance of a neurosurgical colleague in Wales providing extra support with a complex spinal cord stimulation procedure. The NNUH is one of the biggest neuromodulation…
Article • Mass spectrometry goes handheld
A pen to pin down the fringes of cancer
Mass spectrometry – a powerful tool for analysing the molecular composition of a tissue sample – is invaluable during cancer surgery. However, mass spectrometers are complex and unwieldy, and certainly a poor fit for an operating room (OR). To create a bridge between the lab and OR, Professor Livia S Eberlin, from Baylor College of Medicine, has developed a very special ‘pen’.
News • Orthopedy
Antimicrobial coating for implants prevents infections
Customizable to individual patients and requiring less than 10 minutes to prepare and use, new surgical implant coating prevented 100% of infections in mice.
Video • Innovative approach
Osteoarthritis: Nasal cartilage relieves knee pain
Cartilage cells from the nasal septum can not only help repair cartilage injuries in the knee, they can also withstand the chronic inflammatory tissue environment in osteoarthritis and even counteract the inflammation – according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel.
Sponsored • Flexibility and freedom of movement
C-arm adds accuracy to cardiovascular interventions
Alongside the worldwide increase in longevity, inevitably with chronic health conditions rising, cardiovascular procedures and OR utilisation have surged. Thus the efficient and safe performance of surgeries is even more important. The intraoperative use of mobile C-arms increases accuracy, improving clinical outcomes, which can significantly reduce revision rates and thus overall healthcare…
Sponsored • Surgical image and video management
OR becoming an integrated high-performance hub
Operating rooms are extremely complex, and the level of complexity is steadily increasing. This is reflected in the growing number of medical devices, on the one hand, and in the continuously increasing volume of data, on the other. Nowadays, surgical staff are confronted with a flood of highly specialised technology. The challenge is to create workplaces that are as uniform as possible and…
Sponsored • OR equipment
A successful decade of operating theatre wall monitors
OPERION from Rein Medical has been an established byword for wall-integrated monitors and workstations for the operating theatre for ten years. Now in their 3rd generation, they stand for hygienic, highly compatible, reliable and intuitive monitor and workstation systems. The extensive product range in sizes from 21.5" to 75" means that perfect hardware packages covering any requirement…
News • Unprecedented improvements
Gene therapy 'reprograms' cells to reverse AADC deficiency
A novel method of gene therapy is helping children born with a rare genetic disorder called AADC deficiency that causes severe physical and developmental disabilities. The study, led by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and The Ohio State University College of Medicine, offers new hope to those living with incurable genetic and neurodegenerative diseases.
News • Mammacarcinoma study
Breast cancer: finishing treatment soon after diagnosis increases survival
Research from Cleveland Clinic in the U.S. and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. has found a decrease in patient survival rates when treatment options – surgery, chemotherapy and radiation – are completed more than 38 weeks from the time of diagnosis. The observational study, which included more than 28,000 breast cancer patients registered in the American National Cancer Database, is…
News • 4K UHD imaging
A successful decade of surgical wall monitors
Over the last ten years, OPERION from Rein Medical has been a byword for surgical monitors and workstations that can be integrated into the walls of operating theatres.
Article • Women in surgery
Skull & bones? Female specialists fear not
Currently, 25% of the junior physicians in Germany are female – which in international comparison puts the country in one of the top spots. However, only 5% of head of department positions in German university hospitals are held by women and not even 10% of orthopaedics professors are women.
News • Renal disease
New design improves dialysis
Interdisciplinary team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the university’s McKelvey School of Engineering finds better way to design clot-prone grafts currently used for dialysis.
Sponsored • Robotics in the OR
Increased safety for patients und less stress for the surgeons
In early 2020, Landeskrankenhaus (LKH – regional public hospital) Feldkirch in Austria procured two robotics systems. Dr Burghard Abendstein, head of department of Ob/Gyn, welcomes this – as he says – rather unusual but future-oriented decision of the hospital management and has been using the Asensus Senhance surgical system for laparoscopic procedures in gynaecology.
News • Over the next decade
Robotics set to transform spinal surgery for millions
Robotics, AI, and machine learning can make spinal surgery more accurate, efficient, and safer, thereby reducing costs, patient recovery time, and radiation exposure.
Article • Surgical robotics
Elevating outcomes of surgery
What’s in a name? In the case of Asensus Surgical, Inc., previously known as TransEnterix, Inc., the recent rebranding doubles as a mission statement for the manufacturer of surgical robotics systems: The initial ‘A’ stands for artificial intelligence and augmented surgery, reflecting the company’s emphasis on new technologies designed to enhance the operator’s cognition (‘sensus’…