Lights, camera, suction: operating s cutting edge
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THE surgeon Clive Keelty operates in a blue-light district, thanks to the latest digital technology.
In a first for the state's public hospitals, he is using a tiny digital camera the size of a pea to reveal the intricate path his surgical instruments must take to perform a gastrointestinal operation.
To make the surgery easier on the doctor's eyes and to allow more clarity on the digital screen, the theatre's lighting must be blue.
Yesterday the NSW Health Minister, Reba Meagher, tested the new technology, probing the insides of a dummy with surgical instruments similar to Dr Keelty's.
"[The minister] has got a very high-definition digital view of what she is doing and at the same time she can beam this picture to any operating theatre or lecture theatre in the world," explained Professor Les Bokey, head of gastroenterology at the Concord Repatriation General Hospital.
Professor Bokey could not hide his delight yesterday at the launch of the state's first digital operating complex in a public hospital for adults.
About 25 hospitals across the country have digital operating theatres which allow surgeons to perform the minimally invasive technique of keyhole surgery. Most are privately run.
Surgeons insert a digital camera the size of a pea through a three-centimetre incision and use tiny instruments as they view inside the patient's body on screens above the operating table.
"It is like flying the latest model plane and seeing exactly where you are going," the professor said. "[It] has major implications for training where specialists in another hospital can give real-time advice on the best way to proceed with the operation."
Between 4000 and 5000 laparoscopy procedures - including surgery for bowel cancer, appendicitis, hernia repair and colon disease - are performed at Concord each year. Associate Professor Greg Falk, head of the upper gastrointestinal department, estimated the technology would allow a further 1000 procedures each year.
The technology allowed smaller incisions, resulting in minimal scarring, reduced pain after the operation and shorter recovery time, he said.
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Lights, camera, suction: operating s cutting edge: from www.smh.com.au
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