‘AN INCREDIBLE MACHINE’
Royal University Hospital has a new state-of-the-art scanner thanks to a $1-million donation from the Joseph Alfred Remai Family Foundation. Here’s how the O-arm will improve patient outcomes, especially safety, explains Jonathan Charlton.
Dr. Ivar Mendez, right, speaks with Joe Remai about a new state-of-the-art scanner purchased for Royal University Hospital with a $1-million donation from the Joe Remai Family Foundation. The O-arm is expected to improve safety and patient outcomes.
HOW IT WORKS
The ring of the machine encircles the patient, then the O-arm takes 400 3D pictures in just 30 seconds and projects them on screens — all within the operating room. “It allows the surgeon to have the image in real time,” said Dr. Ivar Mendez, unified head of surgery for the Saskatoon Health Region and University of Saskatchewan.
A MILESTONE
RUH was the first centre in Canada to use the system for deep brain stimulation, Mendez said. “It was very exciting, because it allows us to compress time.” They didn’t need to take the patient to the MRI unit beforehand, he noted. “More importantly, I was able to determine the position of the electrodes within the brain after the surgery. So we had immediate feedback of the success of the surgery.” This eliminates the need for a followup scan, in turn preventing a second surgery if adjustments are needed. The machine also opens the door for more tricky deep brain stimulation procedures.
THE BENEFITS
“First of all, safety,” Mendez said. “It allows us to do safer operations. We’re able to pick up and determine any potential complications in real time so the patient doesn’t need to be anesthetized for longer periods of time. At the same time, it’s also important for the team, because if we need to do a lot of X-rays within the operating room the team gets exposed to radiation, so this decreases the radiation exposure as well.”
THE DONOR
“It’s an incredible machine,” Joe Remai said.
“I’m in my twilight years; it’s time to give back.” Once the machine’s function was explained to him, “it was an easy decision to fund it,” he said.