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Outpatient Spine Surgery Center |
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FDA Approved Flexicore Disc Replacement Surgery Trial is being performed at Outpatient Spine Surgery and Valley Spine Centers.
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New Technology used at the OSSCIMAGE GUIDED TECHNOLOGY New Technology Provides Navigational Accuracy It may at first seem like something out of a science fiction movie, but surgeons are now using high-tech computer programs in the operating room to guide their surgical instruments during delicate surgeries. Without this type of technology, surgeons relied on the information provided in a two-dimensional x-ray and their own visual identification to determine their location during some surgical procedures. Known as the StealthStation™ Treatment Guidance Platform, surgeons are now able to pinpoint with improved accuracy, the location of certain surgical instruments and anatomic structure during an operation by incorporating this navigational technology into their surgical procedure. How does the StealthStation System Work? Patient x-rays (usually in the form of an MRI or CT Scan) are loaded into the computer and a three dimensional model is then created by the computer program. Once the three dimensional model is created, the StealthStation System uses a navigational system, similar to the Global Positioning System (GPS), to guide the surgeon's movements and instruments during the procedure. The difference between the StealthStation System and Global Positioning System is merely a matter of scale. Stationed thousands of miles above the Earth, the GPS is a 24 satellite navigational system designed by the military to pinpoint troop locations. The satellites beam radio signals back to Earth allowing for troop locations to be identified anytime regardless of weather. The GPS system was used to locate Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady when his plane went down over Bosnia in 1995. Today, over 500,000 civilians— mostly boaters and pilots — use GPS to plot their course through water or air. With the use of the StealthStation System surgeons are now using this technology in the operating room to plot their course in the human brain and spine. In the operating room the patient is put to sleep and connected to heart and oxygen monitors. A surgical instrument is used to touch several key areas on the patient's body. The surgical instrument is equipped with LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) which send a signal, in the form of infrared rays (similar to the GPS' radio waves), to a receiver located above the operating table. These signals are then transformed into digital readings and sent to the StealthStation System computer. The StealthStation System combines information received from the surgical instrument with the X-ray images scanned into the computer earlier. Thus the real images become integrated with the virtual images. This technology allows surgeons to have an accurate navigational tool to then guide the instruments used during some surgical procedures to the location required within the body. The StealthStation System has been selected for use
by surgeons in over 120 hospitals wishing to provide their patients
with high quality, state-of-the-art surgical treatment options. |
