Dartmouth Hitchcock Health System has a new operating suite equipped with MRI, CT scanners and other technology to provide real time feedback during procedures — including spine surgery, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The intraoperative imaging with the real-time three-dimensional visuals can lead to better outcomes by reducing human error and improving hand-eye coordination. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock suites opened last year and the health system was able to foot the $20 million bill, partially due to financing from a National Institutes of Health grant.
Here are six key points on the technology:
1. The surgeon's judgment is still necessary during these procedures.
2. Surgeons can see whether tissue or organs are shifting during a procedure with the real-time scans. They can also see:
• Lesion boarders
• Tumor shifts during radiation treatment
• Mass visualization
3. For brain surgery — which was one of the first uses of this technology — surgeons were able to modify what they were doing with the intraoperative MRI scan in 40 percent of cases.
4. In spine surgeries, surgeons can examine whether screws or implants are perfectly placed in the operating room instead of taking the patient to another imaging suite for examination.
5. The technology could help avoid revision surgery, which lowers the quality of care and increases costs.
6. There are risks for intraoperative imaging, and ferrous metal objects and tools can't be in the operating room when it's used. The anesthesia equipment like aluminum oxygen tanks and plastic instruments must be compatible with the MRI.