EAU CLAIRE, Wis., — March 25 — A medical revolution emerges when technology blends with smart care. Sacred Heart Hospital makes this connection with its second Smart OR™ – a specialized surgical suite that provides state-of-the-art treatment for spine, trauma and stroke patients. Sacred Heart Hospital is the only hospital in the region to offer this advanced technology, and is one of only five hospitals in the US – and the only hospital in Wisconsin – to have this unique configuration for patients.
The centerpiece to the hospital’s second Smart OR is BrainSUITE® iCT, a digitally integrated operative room solution from BrainLAB that combines surgical navigation with intra-operative CT (iCT) scanning for instant verification of surgical outcomes. The BrainSUITE iCT at Sacred Heart Hospital features a 40-slice iCT scanner from Siemens that takes 40 “slices” – or images – of the body at once, resulting in crystal clear accuracy.
“The BrainSUITE iCT in our second Smart OR optimizes minimally-invasive spine surgery,” says Kamal Thapar, M.D., Marshfield Clinic neurosurgeon and director of the Brain & Spine Institute at Sacred Heart Hospital. “During reconstructive spinal surgery, spinal implants can be passed through the skin via small ports, eliminating the need for large and painful incisions of traditional spinal surgery. Instead of a long incision, we’ll be able to navigate through centimeter incisions with millimeter accuracy. This translates into safer surgery and faster recovery.”
Computer Tomography (CT) scanning is an imaging technique that uses a computer and X-rays to present cross-section “slices” of areas of the body. The iCT technology is unique because it captures images of the body during surgery, while the patient is in the operating room. Because the iCT allows surgeons to see the progress of their surgery while they are performing surgery and verify the position of spinal implants, the need for re-operation is greatly reduced.
This technology is particularly useful for spinal surgeries/implants, cranial surgeries, stroke, trauma, orthopedics, and ear, nose & throat procedures.
The iCT Smart OR uses a unique floor-mounted track that moves the CT scanner over floor rails to the patient when surgeons need to perform a scan during the procedure. After the images are taken, the CT slides back to its original position, and the images from the intra-operative scan are automatically registered to navigational software.
“Prior to this technology, standard CT scans could only be done before and after surgery,” adds Thapar. “Conducting an iCT scan during the surgical procedure allows the surgeon to navigate to the surgical target, verify that the surgical objective was achieved, and be certain that the implants are ideally positioned, all of which will reduce the need for additional procedures.”
Sacred Heart Hospital opened its first Smart OR surgical suite – which uses intra-operative MRI imaging for complex brain surgery – in November 2008. The iCT suite is the hospital’s second Smart OR.
Sacred Heart Hospital is an affiliate of the Hospital Sisters Health System, and since 1889 has been meeting patient needs in western Wisconsin with the latest medical technology and a Franciscan whole-person healing tradition.
