High Definition Video in the OR
- Sony Network (Autumn 2000)
reprinted with permission of Sony Network Magazine
In contrast to the highly invasive traditionally open-chest heart surgery, this 21st Century technique offers significant benefits to the patient in postoperative pain, recovery, cost, and cosmetic result.
With the development of the minimally invasive cardiac surgical techniques, the surgeons at NYU are able to perform mitral valve repair or replacement procedures through a small incision between the ribs. Rather than a ten-inch scar down the middle of the chest, the new method results in a far less visible keyhole incision on the patient's side. In many patients, the scar is soon well healed and nearly invisible.
Despite the tremendous benefits of this surgical method, there is a downside: the difficulty the surgeons face seeing and working inside such a small portal into the patient's chest cavity. And for that, the solution is Sony high definition video.
While remotely watching Dr. Colvin perform surgery live on a Sony studio monitor, Dr. Grossi recently explained that the surgeon works seated at a workstation a few feet from the patient while controlling three robotic arms on the operating table. Viewing a high definition video monitor, the surgeon can see the surgical site using an endoscope, which is manipulated through the tiny incision.
"The incision is about the size of a quarter, and the heart valve is several inches away through the chest wall. There's no way for the surgeon to see inside without using video. High definition video provides wonderful visual cues and striking visual information, which is needed to perform the operation," Dr. Grossi says.
Visitors to the cardiac operating room stand quietly as the surgeon works. Nearby, the heart-lung machine slowly and rhythmically pumps oxygenated blood back to the patient. Overhead are two monitors, one showing a standard definition video feed, the other, high definition. The advantages to the surgeon are obvious even to a visitor with no medical training. The surgeons need the detail and rich contrast of colors that the high definition screen provides in order to be able to work in the confined spaces inside the human heart. The images transmitted while the surgeon works to repair the heart are visually stunning.
With another successful heart surgery completed, Dr. Colvin suggests additional advantages to high definition video surgery that go far beyond this one life-saving procedure. Since NYU is a world-class teaching hospital, video of these surgeries is a wonderful training tool, Dr. Colvin says.
"Years ago, when I was studying to be a surgeon," he explains, "we would all stand around the operating table to observe an operation and really we couldn't see very much. Now, today's students have the advantage of being able to watch detailed video of very complicated procedures."
At NYU, these future surgeons can thank Sony high definition video for this unprecedented opportunity to observe miracles taking place inside the chest of a living, breathing, human being.
For more information, visit www.sony.com/medical.
- Sony Network (Autumn 2000)
reprinted with permission of Sony Network Magazine
| High definition video is a natural in the operation room (O.R.), especially when a patient is on a heart-lung machine and the surgeon is working through a tiny incision in the chest wall. As the doctors struggle to see and repair the inner workings of a damaged heart, success can depend on the quality of the video image displayed on Sony monitors mounted overhead. New York University (NYU) Hospital's Cardiac Surgeons, Stephen Colvin MD, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Eugene A. Grossi MD, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, are two of the pioneers in minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Their work entails the use of innovative procedures and treatment that can literally mean the difference between life and death. |
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In contrast to the highly invasive traditionally open-chest heart surgery, this 21st Century technique offers significant benefits to the patient in postoperative pain, recovery, cost, and cosmetic result.
With the development of the minimally invasive cardiac surgical techniques, the surgeons at NYU are able to perform mitral valve repair or replacement procedures through a small incision between the ribs. Rather than a ten-inch scar down the middle of the chest, the new method results in a far less visible keyhole incision on the patient's side. In many patients, the scar is soon well healed and nearly invisible.
Despite the tremendous benefits of this surgical method, there is a downside: the difficulty the surgeons face seeing and working inside such a small portal into the patient's chest cavity. And for that, the solution is Sony high definition video.
While remotely watching Dr. Colvin perform surgery live on a Sony studio monitor, Dr. Grossi recently explained that the surgeon works seated at a workstation a few feet from the patient while controlling three robotic arms on the operating table. Viewing a high definition video monitor, the surgeon can see the surgical site using an endoscope, which is manipulated through the tiny incision.
"The incision is about the size of a quarter, and the heart valve is several inches away through the chest wall. There's no way for the surgeon to see inside without using video. High definition video provides wonderful visual cues and striking visual information, which is needed to perform the operation," Dr. Grossi says.
Visitors to the cardiac operating room stand quietly as the surgeon works. Nearby, the heart-lung machine slowly and rhythmically pumps oxygenated blood back to the patient. Overhead are two monitors, one showing a standard definition video feed, the other, high definition. The advantages to the surgeon are obvious even to a visitor with no medical training. The surgeons need the detail and rich contrast of colors that the high definition screen provides in order to be able to work in the confined spaces inside the human heart. The images transmitted while the surgeon works to repair the heart are visually stunning. With another successful heart surgery completed, Dr. Colvin suggests additional advantages to high definition video surgery that go far beyond this one life-saving procedure. Since NYU is a world-class teaching hospital, video of these surgeries is a wonderful training tool, Dr. Colvin says.
"Years ago, when I was studying to be a surgeon," he explains, "we would all stand around the operating table to observe an operation and really we couldn't see very much. Now, today's students have the advantage of being able to watch detailed video of very complicated procedures."
At NYU, these future surgeons can thank Sony high definition video for this unprecedented opportunity to observe miracles taking place inside the chest of a living, breathing, human being.
For more information, visit www.sony.com/medical.