Mater unveils the first full HD integrated operating theatre in Australia
- Release Date: 6/08/2007
- Media Contact: Miranda Hunt 0410 417 790
Monday 6 August 2007, surgeons at Brisbane’s Mater Adult Hospital will operate in the hospital’s new full high definition (1080p) digital integrated operating theatre ORI from Karl Storz, the first of its kind in Australia.
The fully integrated digital operating theatre is part of Mater Adult Hospital's refurbishment and has been funded by the state government and Mater Health Services.
The technologically advanced theatre will help the hospital deliver better patient outcomes using equipment from medical distribution company N Stenning & Co.
According to Mater Health Services CEO, Dr John O’Donnell, the new theatre provides surgeons with a number of advantages. The true high definition screens will enable surgeons to see the area on which they are operating with greater clarity than is possible with current technology.
“The high quality optical lenses and HD technology within the camera head provide a true high definition image which vastly increases the clarity on the visual screens to assist the surgeons’ vision particularly in keyhole surgery,” Dr O’Donnell said.
“The wide-screen display allows for a much wider field of view and the increased screen resolution improves depth of field so more detail can be seen and improves colour definition, which assists surgeons in diagnosis and surgery.”
Another benefit of a fully integrated operating theatre is that surgeons can decide where they want the cameras and visual monitors to be placed. They can operate the visual monitors themselves by a touch screen located inside the sterile operating field.
This unique touch screen uses a Realistic User Interface which produces the identical control panel of the medical device being used by the surgeon on the touch screen. The benefit of this is that the there are no interruptions in or out of the sterile field when altering surgical device settings.
“Images, documents and patient records relevant to the patient’s care can also be reproduced on the visual monitors,” Dr O’Donnell said.
In addition, the theatre has telemedicine and teleconferencing facilities which allows a procedure to be televised anywhere in the world for teaching purposes or collaboration for complex surgical procedures.
Dr O Donnell continued by saying, “The acquisition of this theatre is very exciting for Mater Health Services.”
“We are confident this leading edge technology will further our ability to provide exceptional service to our patients.”
According to Steve Griffiths, the OR1 Product Manager for N Stenning, this is an exciting time for surgeons and patients alike.
“The OR1 integrated theatre's technology now enables surgeons and theatre clinicians of Mater to perform procedures with more information at their fingertips, thus reducing procedure times," Mr Griffiths said.
“This technology ultimately benefits the patients as it reduces their recovery time and allows them to return to their family or the work place sooner.”