High
Definition television has captured TV viewers’ imaginations, delivering
entertainment in dazz-lingly sharp focus. Now,
the technology that enables football fans to see
every blade of grass on the field has been implemented
in Huntington Hospital’s operating rooms,
providing surgeons who perform video-assisted
procedures with unparalleled visualization of
the surgical field.
Video assisted surgery
is widely used by nearly all surgical subspecialists.
It permits the surgeon to operate through smaller
incisions than what is required for traditional
surgery. Tiny cameras mounted on flexible scopes
along with surgical instruments are inserted through
these small incisions. The surgical field is then
projected onto a video monitor and the surgeon
is able to see the operative site and manipulate
the instruments.
True HD imaging depends
not only upon monitors, but the entire chain of
video components. Huntington Hospital’s
system comprises 23” HD monitors, new cabling,
as well as miniature HDcameras that are equipped
with specialized computer chips. A “hub”
camera control unit integrates with the system’s
camera heads. A Xenon light source further enhances
image clarity. Manufactured by Karl Storz Endoscopy,
the system acquires images with an input resolution
that is more than six times higher than standard
definition cameras.
The HD monitors offer
a 16:9 aspect ratio, significantly expanding the
display field and increasing visualization of
peripheral areas.
“The sharpness
of the image quality enhances our ability to perceive
depth, which is helpful in determining where instruments
are in relationship to one another or to anatomical
structures,” said James Gurtowski, MD, Chief
of Orthopedic Surgery.
In clinical studies,
the realism inherent in HD has been shown to improve
surgeons’ abilities to complete certain
basic tasks such as tying knots and suturing.
Huntington Hospital
has installed the HD system in each of the ten
operating rooms in its Surgical Pavilion, built
in 2004.
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