Cooperation in the OR
The future of intraoperative diagnostics starts at Munich’s Grosshadern University Hospital in Germany. The pioneers are: Siemens, BrainLab and TRUMPF Medical Systems Systeme.
The surgical table moves almost silently,
remotely controlled by the surgeon’s
hands: Move everything a bit higher,
the head a little lower, tilt a bit more.
Finally, the patient is in the desired position,
everything is ready — not for the
OR, though, but for a little “crash test”
to be done beforehand with the CT tube
waiting in the background …
We are in the newly opened research
OR in Grosshadern University Hospital
in Germany. A normal, medium-sized
OR that looks just like any other — so
it seems. And yet it is equipped with
a few technical special features that
make it unique in the world. First of all,
a movable, rail-mounted sliding gantry
has been installed — a high-resolution
spiral-CT made by Siemens with an
82-cm diameter tube. Secondly, there is
a new navigational system developed
by BrainLab that communicates directly
with the CT for the intraoperative
updating of the image data. And last
but not least, a JUPITER surgical table
made by TRUMPF Medical Systems.
Since its surgical table board is made
of carbon, X-rays can pass through it.
Its adapters and the head-strapping device
do not show up in the X-rays as
interference artifacts. After all, these
three products work together precisely
to ensure patient-friendly, intraoperative
diagnostics. In Grosshadern they
are made fit for that purpose.
With this, we are back to the “crash
test” mentioned above. While the CT
is moved along its rails, Dr. Eberhard
Uhl, managing chief physician of the
Neurosurgical Department at the Grosshadern
University Hospital, explains
why the test is essential: “The good part
of our new system is that we neither
have to transfer the patient to another
bed nor even have to change his or her
lying position in order to do the intraoperative
scan. To accomplish this, we
merely have to shift the surgical table
horizontally and vertically so the sliding
gantry can glide over the table, the
support and the aseptically covered patient without bumping into anything.
Thus, we test the correct position before
surgery.” Once found, it is saved using
the touch screen in the wall of the surgical
table and can later be automatically
recalled. If needed, several OR and
scanning positions can also be saved.
Then, surgery can begin.
