The Operating Theatre Journal March 2022

Operating theatres
finally reopen after
Covid closures
The operating theatres in Navan hospital will
return to full capacity on March 7th, following
closures that have been in place for several
months due to Covid-19.
There has been disquiet among staff at the
length of closures of the theatres, particularly
in light of Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly’s
commitment last week to cut waiting lists.
In a statement issued this week hospital
management said: “The hospital makes every
effort to avoid any disruption and is working to
ensure that the safest, quality patient care be
provided at all times.”
Staff at the hospital had expressed concern
that general surgery theatres at the hospital
were still closed this week.
A member of staff pointed out that the general
surgery theatres had closed three times during
the pandemic.
“We were fine with that at the height of
the pandemic. The theatre nurses were
redeployed around different departments in
the hospital and we were all happy to do that
during the pandemic, but the theatres should
be up and running now,” she said.
“It is frustrating as waiting lists are growing as
the theatres are closed.”
The statement from the hospital said that
health care services nationally continued to
experience immense pressures in relation to
staff availability due to Covid.
“However, patients requiring essential
and time-sensitive treatment continue to
be prioritised, including those on cancer
treatment.
“The effect of the pandemic to date on non-
Covid care is very much acknowledged. Our
Lady’s Hospital, Navan has made every effort
to minimise the impact of the pandemic this
included the prioritisation of time-sensitive
treatments at all times and the use of a
range of measures to increase capacity when
feasible, including extended working days,
outsourcing, virtual assessments, clinical
guidance updates, new clinical pathways and
adoption of new technologies.
“One theatre in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan
in currently not fully operational. However, it
will return to full capacity on March 7th.
“The hospital makes every effort to avoid any
disruption and is working to ensure that the
safest, quality patient care be provided at all
times.
“Hospital Management would like to thank the
public for their patience and support at this
time,” the statement concluded.
THE
Source: Meath Chronicle
New MRI method will better inform surgical
decisions for babies born with a heart defect
A novel 10-minute MRI scan could help surgeons better plan for a congenital heart
defect
Researchers from the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences have identified a novel
non-invasive 10-minute MRI scan of tracking the health of the aorta to better inform surgical
decisions and patient monitoring, particularly for congenital conditions such as hypoplastic left
heart syndrome (HLHS).
Published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research, the research focuses on the
aorta, the main artery that receives the blood of each heartbeat and distributes it to our body.
The large arteries, particularly the aorta, serve as a conduit to transport the blood from the
ventricles to the body, and as a reservoir of blood that fills during systole (period of contraction
of the ventricles of the heart that occurs between the first and second heart sounds of the
cardiac cycle) and recoils during diastole (the phase of the heartbeat when the heart muscle
relaxes and allows the chambers to fill with blood).
The researchers developed a non-invasive comprehensive way to study these two functions along
the aorta from a 10-minute MRI scan, replacing the need of invasive catheterised methods that
were not even close to report the rich spatial information the new method can provide.
“A child born with HLHS presents a unique anatomy and each clinical decision needs to be
tailored to it. This is very challenging. In this context, our key objective is to deliver non-invasive
technology that assesses the health and function of our main vessels. With such technology,
surgical processes can be tailored to alleviate existing problems or can be evaluated and further
improved by studying the impact of previous procedural choices.”
– Dr Adelaide De Vecchi, Lecturer, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
HLHS is a birth defect where babies are born with an under-developed left part of the
heart. Currently, immediately after birth, babies require staged surgical palliation – a series
of procedures that save the life of the babies and that aim to maximise life expectancy and
relieving complications.
As part of these procedures, surgeons also need to enlarge the aorta so that it can accommodate
the entire cardiac output.
Despite numerous patients now surviving the staged palliation procedure, they live with only
half of their heart – a single ventricle instead of two – and are thus more likely to have cardiac
complications over time.
It is paramount to minimise the presence of unfavourable blood flow conditions, such as those
caused by sub-optimal surgical reconstructions of the aorta.
There is also increasing evidence that significant neurodevelopmental issues associated with
HLHS may be triggered by these cardiac factors.
“With our novel method, we now have the ability to evaluate with unprecedented detail the
blood flow pathophysiology of the aorta artery through the conduit and reservoir functions.”
– Dr Alessandro Faraci, Research Associate, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
“In the future this will even allow us to guide the definition of optimal strategies for surgical
and clinical treatment.”
– Mr Joao Filipe Fernandes, Research Student, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging
Sciences
King’s College London.
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