reconstructive plastic surgery - Macquarie University Hospital

20
A nEw ZEiSS PEnTERO
MiCROSCOPE iS HElPinG
SuRGEOnS AT MACquARiE
uniVERSiTY HOSPiTAl TO
PERfORM PROCEDuRES wiTH
unPRECEDEnTED ACCuRACY.
WHAT lIeS
BeNeATH
Microscopes bring surgeons two
important features: magnification
and bright light. As microscopes
have advanced over the years for
medical purposes, they’ve
become more user-friendly, now
incorporating features such as
free-floating stands that allow the
surgeon to easily change the
position of the microscope.
Despite these advances, microscopes
– in the words of Professor Michael
Morgan, Vice President, Health and
Medical Development at Macquarie
University Hospital – have only
every allowed you to “see what you
can see.”
The new Carl Zeiss oPMI Pentero,
installed in Macquarie University
Hospital’s brand new CT scan
operating Theatre, does something
revolutionary: it allows you to see
what is, essentially, out of sight.
“The big advance with the Zeiss
Pentero,” said Professor Morgan, “is
that it can provide displays of what
is hidden to the eye. It allows us to
see into cavities and below surfaces.”
For example, the microscope allows
surgeons to make judgements
regarding the internal activity of
blood vessels, when fluorescent dye
is injected.
In addition, stereotactic technology
that throws a beam down to the
surface of the surgeon’s view, can
also show a surgeon what lies
beneath a tissue surface by
correlating what is seen with the
MRI or CT scan images. Viewing
what is technically ‘out of sight’
means surgeons can detect lesions
or tumours that would otherwise
be hidden.
“The Zeiss Pentero design is based on
the fighter pilot’s heads-up display
technology,” explained Professor
Morgan. “The display presents data
without requiring the operator – in
this case, the surgeon – to turn or
look away from the surgical field in
order to read images.
“It does this by superimposing the
MRI image through a transparent
medium onto the surgical field, as
seen through the microscope.”
The microscope provides advanced
intra-operative diagnostics that can
assist doctors significantly during
treatment of a patient.
Used at Macquarie University
Hospital in brain and spinal surgery,
the microscope will benefit
surgeons doing a range of
procedures, including tumour
removal and common aneurysms.
“Whereas before, one had to make
an informed guess regarding the
condition and location of what we
needed to look at, now we can be
certain where to target an
intervention,” said Professor Morgan.
“It lifts spine and neurosurgery to a
new level, by providing
unprecedented accuracy.”