AKRON, Ohio. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — New technology that can be used for everything from spinal, cardiac, reconstructive surgery, and even neurosurgery, has helped give a young child a promising future. Exoscope
It’s a walk down the hall for five-year-old Raven’s weekly occupational therapy. And one of today’s activities is using her left hand, to make cookies.
It all started after Raven’s parent’s noticed weakness, and a lack of mobility in her left side. So Raven was sent to a neurologist, who ordered an MRI. The results – shocking – a golf ball sized tumor, pressing on the right side of her brain.
“It was just like a complete shock, like deer in headlights and I was like, ‘What?’” explained Jamie Mariol, Raven’s mother.
Within 24 hours, Raven was undergoing brain surgery at Akron Children’s Hospital.
“I was very nervous and like not knowing what was gonna happen,” stated Mariol.
Doctors removed the benign tumor and the job was easier thanks to the use of an exoscope. It’s a high-def video telescope, where doctors wear 3D glasses and look at large screens, instead of looking through heavy magnifying glasses, with a light on top.
“The beauty of that technology is that you are not then confined to standing or sitting in certain positions in the operating room for hours at a time,” said Tsulee Chen, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Akron Children’s Hospital.
Raven will continue to learn to regain strength on her left side and hopefully have fun, while she’s doing it.
An exoscope costs $400,000 dollars, about $150,000 dollars more than the latest, traditional microscopes used for surgery. Akron children’s is the only independent children’s hospital in the country to use one.
Contributors to this news report include: Hillary Rubin, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor; and Scott Newell, Videographer
EXOSCOPE: REVOLUTIONARY MICROSCOPE HELPS RAVEN REGAIN STRENGTH!
REPORT 2938
BACKGROUND: Microsurgery is any procedure that involves the use of a specialized operating microscope and precision instrumentation to perform complex, small-scale operations. It is considered more precise and much less invasive. Techniques have advanced from traditional surgical methods where large incisions and bone openings were often necessary, and some conditions were simply impossible to treat because the surgeon could not adequately see what they were doing. These techniques are used in a wide range of medical fields including neurosurgery, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, and general surgery. The development of microsurgery techniques has also made it possible to perform procedures such as free tissue transfer, replantation, and transplantation.
(Source: https://www.topdoctors.co.uk/medical-dictionary/microsurgery)
EXOSCOPES AND MICROSURGERY: For surgeons, exoscopes offer improved visualization over traditional operating microscopes. The latest exoscopes used in brain tumor resection serve as moveable, telescoping microscopes that can more readily assume different positions over the course of a surgery, allowing a surgeon to use controls on the exoscope to manipulate its position and generate a flexible, 3D picture with far greater detail. Neurosurgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are finding benefits of the exoscope extend far beyond improved surgical accuracy. The 3D views reduce surgeon fatigue and provide a more comprehensive picture of the brain for the entire operating team. The Olympus exoscope minimizes the need to look through an eyepiece, instead leveraging a high-resolution camera connected to a large, 55-inch screen. One limitation of the exoscope is that, in some scenarios, it may not offer depth perception as strong as a microscope. Current exoscopes also rely on simple, manual controls. A joystick is in the works to allow for better control and optics.
(Source: https://discover.vumc.org/2020/07/benefits-of-exoscope-extend-far-in-precision-surgery/)
NEW EXOSCOPIC SURGERY: Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), is the third most common tumor in the head and neck region, and is showing a significant increase of incidence, particularly tonsillar cancer. Standard treatments for OPSCC are typically by surgery and radiotherapy, alone or in combination, and by chemotherapy associated with radiotherapy. The Vitom 3D Exoscopic System is a video telescope operating microscope which was applied first in neurosurgery, urology, and gynecologic surgery, but is now beginning to grow in ENT surgery as well. The 3D Vitom Exoscope System has been used for the treatment of tumors of the oropharynx and oral cavity at the early-intermediate stage, and for benign pathologies. The aim is to develop and rejuvenate a traditional transoral surgical technique, performed with 3D screen vision and to test its ability in terms of surgical precision and shared surgical vision in comparison to transoral robotic surgery.
(Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.00016/full)
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