HDTV technology improves surgery
Posted by Jason on
November 22, 2007
You may have watched last night’s Buffalo Bills game on a high definition television. And now, local doctors are now using that same technology to improve surgery. News 10NBC is the first to show you how it all works. HDTV sets like this one are now in many homes. The three dimensional effect increases realism when you watch, that’s why it’s become so popular with TV viewers and sports fans. Now this same technology is being miniaturized for doctors.
Rochester General Hospital is now using a specially designed HDTV camera system that is improving the way surgery is done. Dr. Louis Eichel says, “It gives you better definition of the tissue planes between the different anatomy. It can do more like a precise dissection and minimizes any complications.”
Dr. Eichel performs laproscopic surgery at Rochester General Hospital. The minimally invasive surgery is now easier and more precise with the help of these new high definition cameras. The HD camera chip is placed at the tip of the endoscope, that’s the instrument that goes into the body through a tiny incision.
With this surgery, doctors don’t open up the body. The camera serves as the eyes of the surgeon, and now that vision has been improved. Dr. Eichel says “In minimally invasive surgery that’s the whole crux, to be able to see as well as we can we are not looking at the patient with our own two eyes, this is as close to doing that.”
Rochester General now has two of these hi-def systems. Doctors say it’s like looking through a window. The surgery takes less time is more precise, ultimately better for the patient. Dr. Eichel adds, “basically allows us to perform our job more naturally with greater ease because we can see what’s happening.”
Rochester General has been using this new technology for the past two months. Each system costs 25-thousand dollars. RGH purchased one system, the second was made possible through a generous donation.
