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Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | August 15, 2011
From the August 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Photographed by
Leonard Myszynskim
sOlar eye communications
It’s possible for specialties like urology, neurology and orthopedics to claim a stake in a hybrid OR. But because of a convergence of current health trends and device innovation, the dominant users of today’s hybrid ORs are vascular surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons and interventional cardiologists.
As the global rate of cardiac disease continues to rise, so does the trend of minimally invasive interventions that improve patient care and control costs.
Surgical advancements are allowing a growing number of patients who were traditionally managed only through open procedures to undergo minimally invasive procedures, according to Robert Popilock, senior manager, alliances, with Steris Coporation. There is also a bigger focus on managing more challenging patients, such as those with concomitant disease and surgical risk factors, using noninvasive techniques.
“Making it possible to meet both of these needs is the ability to perform less invasive surgeries under image guidance while at the same time performing more invasive and challenging interventional procedures under the safety net of a sterile surgical environment,” Popilock wrote in an e-mail to DOTmed News.
The core procedures driving the interest in hybrid ORs are abdominal aneurism therapy, thoracic aneurism and dissection therapy and aortic valve replacements and repairs, according to GE’s McIff.
And within one year, industry experts anticipate new transcatheter valves to hit the market -devices that will greatly expand the opportunities for minimally invasive procedures in cardiac cases.
Today, the majority of clinical trial sites where transcatheter valve procedures are being performed are hybrid rooms, according to The Advisory Board’s Ford. Clinical investigators deem hybrid ORs to be the ideal spaces for the newest techniques, as surgeons and interventionalists must work side by side, Ford explains.
In addition to improved patient care and expanded clinical procedures, access to the high-end equipment of a hybrid OR also serves as a magnet for surgical talent. “In order to attract quality vascular surgeons, you’re going to need to have a hybrid operating room, there’s no question about it,” says Cooper’s Lombardi.
Dr Michael Friebe
Training and Integration needed ...
August 18, 2011 08:18
Nice review!
What is clear is the need for common standards (mainly software) to get the ideal and best suited environment for the individual purpose.
The next generation of Hybrid OR's integrating CT and MRI systems and possibly dedicated radiation therapy equipment (e.g. intraoperative RT procedures) is already on the horizon.
What still remains a problem is the staff training - no use to have a fancy OR and no one or not enough people who are able to use it properly. All in all exciting developments to come.
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