'Brain Suites' Replacing Operating Rooms

Reported January 2011

BALTIMORE, MD (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Each year, 20 million Americans undergo surgery. But surgeries can be risky, and complications can happen during and after a procedure. Now, a new high-tech operating room is helping make surgeries safer.

Riding horses is David Buffamoyer's passion, but after back surgery left him partially paralyzed, he thought he'd never ride or walk again.

"The first thing I thought about was, man I can't walk," Buffamoyer told Ivanhoe.

David is walking today thanks to Neurosurgeon, Ali bydon at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and to this, a new highly sophisticated surgical suite that's helping doctors perform better, safer surgeries.

"I know that my patients get a better outcome and a better operation out of it, and I know that there's less risk of infection," Dr. Bydon said.

The Brainsuite iCT is a digital operating room with a combination of GPS like navigation technologies that allows surgeons to view images during surgery of the back and neck, where surgical precision is critical.

"When we're doing surgery for example I cannot see anterior to my bone, I cannot see through the bone, but navigation allows me to be able to, so if there’s a nerve root on the other side of the bone, navigation allows me to see that," Dr. Bydon said.

In the room is a CT scanner on tracks that can be moved to take a scan at anytime. The operating table has a radiolucent tabletop that allows x-rays to be taken without ever moving or awakening the patient from anesthesia. Ceiling mounted cameras work with GPS navigation technology to give doctors live, 3D views inside a patient's body during surgery. Live images allow doctors to check their work after surgery.

"Before we leave the operating room we are either 100% satisfied or we're not, and if we're not, we have a chance to fix it," Dr. Bydon said.

The high tech state of the art operating room was the guide Dr. Bydon needed to get David back on his feet.

"I wanted to feel my feet on the ground, it was amazing,” Buffamoyer said.

Science that is helping put David back in the saddle. The Brainsuite iCT is only available in four medical centers across the country, Baltimore, Maryland, greenwood, South Carolina, Tucson, Arizona, and Boston, Massachusetts.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Karen Tong
Public Affairs, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
Baltimore, Maryland
ktong4@jhmi.edu

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