reconstructive plastic surgery - Macquarie University Hospital

8
NeW ADVANCeS IN
VASCUlAR SURGeRY
THE VASCulAR DEPARTMEnT AT
MACquARiE uniVERSiTY HOSPiTAl
OffERS PATiEnTS THE lATEST in
MiniMAllY inVASiVE EnDOVASCulAR
SuRGERY, COMbinED wiTH THE
bEST ulTRASOunD DiAGnOSTiC
TECHnOlOGY.
Macquarie University Hospital has
established an innovative vascular
department that combines the latest
procedures and technologies in diagnostics
and treatment. With some of the most
skilled medical professionals on board, the
hospital can offer patients the highest level
of treatments available in Australia.
From commonly presenting conditions to
highly complex cases, the vascular team can
address a range of diseases quickly and
effectively.
At the heart of the vascular capabilities in
the hospital’s brand new hybrid operating
suite, is a multi-modality room incorporating
angiography capabilities and CT into the
operating theatre. The hybrid theatre
contains a robotic angiography device. The
intelligent C-arm of the robotic device
allows precision in access to a specific area
being treated.
Professor Geoffrey White, from the vascular
department, stated that this robotic-guidance
vascular intervention system is an important
advance, which offers unrivalled innovative
technology to our patients who require
minimally invasive procedures to reopen
blood vessels throughout the body. It makes
Macquarie University Hospital an ideal place
for a world centre of excellence in vascular,
endovascular and cardiovascular care.
“our patients benefit from this technology
since the procedures can be completed
more quickly and safely, usually under
simple local anaesthesia, with return to
home the same or next day,” said Professor
White. “In addition, the robotic system
incorporates state-of-the-art features, which
allow us to reduce our patients’ exposure to
x-rays, while providing advanced
3-dimensional images of organs and vessels
for complex procedures, including hybrid
interventions which can combine the best
combination of surgery and other
technology, known as hybrid procedures.”
Dr Michael Stephen, another of the
well-respected vascular surgeons at
Macquarie University Hospital, agrees that
the hybrid operating theatre allows
surgeons to perform the most advanced
procedures very effectively and efficiently.
“Vascular surgical advances are clearly
oriented towards minimally invasive,
endovascular procedures using radiological
control,” said Dr Stephen. “Macquarie
University Hospital has one of the most
advanced hybrid suites in the world. This
high-resolution and the robotic capability
also allows for complex endoluminal
surgery to be undertaken, as well as the
conventional and hybrid cases, without
having to move the patient to a different
theatre. This markedly simplifies the more
standard interventions.”
Through minimally invasive catheter
procedures and endovascular and surgical
reconstruction, vascular surgeons at
Macquarie University Hospital work mostly
in the three main arterial treatment areas.
These are ischemic lower limbs (hardening
of the arteries, causing leg pain or disability),
aneurysms (particularly affecting the
abdominal and thoracic aorta), and visceral
arterial disease (including abdominal and
cerebrovascular disease).
The vascular team is fortunately placed by
having expert close links with the
cardiological and neurological departments
to help both pre and post-operative
assessment and management of individual
patients. In combination with an advanced
Intensive Care Unit, this multi-disciplinary
approach adds a higher dimension of
patient certainty and safety.
All vascular surgeons are actively engaged
in research through the Australian School in
Advanced Medicine, doing clinical trials in
areas including revascularisation of the smaller
blood vessels, drug-eluting balloons and
stents to deliver medication to hyperplastic
artery walls, and aortic dissections.
The other big advance that Macquarie
brings to the vascular arena in the private
sector is a highly sophisticated diagnostic
vascular ultrasound laboratory.
Kathryn Busch, Practice Manager of the
laboratory, says that when Macquarie
established the laboratory, decisions were
taken to install only the newest and the most
accurate diagnostic equipment available.
“The ultrasound we have in the lab is the
Philips iU22,” explained Ms Busch. “It’s the
newest on the market and able to produce
extraordinarily high-resolution results. Many
of our patients can have their arterial or
venous problem diagnosed by ultrasound,
which allows many to avoid the need for
vascular x-rays.”
The technology uses an ultra-thin targeted
ultrasound beam that, by way of a PureWave
transducer, can gather over 9000 different
active elements and process them into
harnessed power more than 25 times
greater than today’s conventional
transducers. It not only captures crisp,
high-resolution images, but can image on
two planes and add 3D imaging if required.
“The iU22 enables us to work faster, and
with improved precision,” said Ms Busch.
“Accurate diagnosis is everything, when a
patient first comes in.
“With more accurate diagnosis, a patient can
receive more targeted treatment by the
vascular surgeons, and for many of the vein
procedures, we then use the ultrasound to
guide the treatment and watch the result,
rather than x-ray.”
Macquarie University Hospital is fortunate to
have someone as highly qualified as Ms
Busch, who has also won numerous awards
for research, including the Scientific Award
for excellence in Scientific Research from
the US Society for Vascular Ultrasound, and
the eugene Strandness Scientific Prize for
best clinical presentation at a conference in
Baltimore, from the same Society.