Earlier this month, Baylor Carrollton was the second hospital in the world to install a new mobile intraoperative CT (computed tomography) System. The system is named Airo® Mobile Intraoperative CT and just recently received clearance from the FDA in October.
With the introduction of mobile CT capabilities, the surgical team can automatically register the newly acquired CT images and merge pre-operative scans to track and monitor their surgical instruments in real time, increasing intraoperative confidence and helping to safely achieve desired surgical goals.
“We are excited to be one of the first hospitals not only in the country, but the world, to use this new technology in our operating rooms at Baylor Carrollton. We hope this innovative imaging system will help us further enhance the quality care we are able to offer our patients,” says Michael Sanborn, hospital president.
Surgeons on the medical staff will be using the 32-slice CT scanner to assist with visualization during neuro- and spinal surgeries and to help verify surgical goals through intra-operative imaging.
This imaging system offers a combination of three key benefits which previously were not all achievable in one operating room setting:
- Mobility: The equipment is rather versatile, and adapts to a variety of surgical set-ups, removing the need to move the patient in order to get images.
- Flexibility: With a gantry opening of 107cm—the widest on the market— Airo enables flexible patient positioning. Surgeons can use the technology to see how their surgeries are progressing, all while maintaining the patient’s surgical position.
- Efficiency: The addition of a diagnostic quality mobile imaging system for surgical procedures will assist in streamlining efficiency in virtually any standard-size operating room.
“This has the potential to change daily practice in the surgical space. This technology can help aid the surgical team’s decision-making in the operating room, which is critically important when you are talking about complicated spine and brain surgeries,“ Dr. Michael Turner, MD, medical director of neurosurgery and a neurosurgeon on the medical staff at Baylor Carrollton.
The intraoperative CT will be used with an image-guided surgery system already in-use at Baylor Carrollton. Employing the two systems together will create enhanced surgical vision and precision, allowing the operating team to see things previously unseen during complex brain, spine and trauma surgeries.
Access to imaging capability during surgery also eliminates the need to transfer patients out of the sterile field to a separate location for CT imaging and possibly be brought back to the operating room for additional surgery. This can decrease the chance of complications due to moving the patient.
The CT scanner isn’t limited to one operating room like many systems currently employed in the industry. It can be very easily transported to any of the nine operating rooms and even beyond that. In the future, hospital officials hope the mobility of this device may allow the option to use the CT scanner in other patient care locations in the hospital from ICU to the Emergency Department if necessary.
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Physicians are members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Health Care System's subsidiary community or affiliated medical centers and are neither employees nor agents of those medical centers, Baylor Medical Center at Carrollton or Baylor Health Care System.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer McDowell
jennifer.mcdowell@baylorhealth.edu
cell: (214) 470-1374
About Baylor Scott & White Health
As the largest not-for-profit health system in the state of Texas, Baylor Scott & White promotes the health and well-being of every individual, family and community it serves. It is committed to making quality care more accessible, convenient and affordable through its integrated delivery network, which includes the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and its leading digital health platform – MyBSWHealth. Through 51 hospitals and more than 1,200 access points, including flagship academic medical centers in Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple, the system offers the full continuum of care, from primary to award-winning specialty care. Founded as a Christian ministry of healing more than a century ago, Baylor Scott & White today serves more than three million Texans. For more information, visit: BSWHealth.com