Gone are those days when doctors spent hours together in operation theatres doing the most cumbersome surgical procedures on the spine without the aid of advanced surgical equipment.
About fifty years ago, it was a must for patients who underwent spinal surgery to be under post-operative observation for quite a long time. With their limited capabilities, doctors made long incision/s on the spine which took several weeks to heal. Some patients with complicated problems had to stay for months in the hospitals.
Today, however, it’s altogether a different story. The advances in medical science and technology achieved through years of research and trials have taken spinal surgeries to a new level with a high degree of sophistication, safety, ease and convenience.
Until recently, the availability of ultra high-precision surgical apparatus and realtime imaging systems was limited to only advanced countries particularly USA, Canada and Germany. But fortunately this is not the case anymore, at least in respect of Bangkok.
Minimal invasive spine surgery done with the help of such equipment has now become a reality in Thailand! Courtesy: the Bangkok Spine Academy of the Bangkok Hospital.
The academy recently introduced O-ARM® Multidimensional Imaging System, a state-of-the-art innovation revolutionising spine surgery in the Kingdom.
O-ARM assists spine specialists before and during spinal surgeries significantly increasing the quality of the pictures of the spine which improves patient care and safety tremendously.
The Bangkok Spine Academy is headed by the hospital’s Senior Director Dr. Phudhiphorn Thienprasit who has years of hands-on experience using O-ARM while working as a spine surgeon in the US.
Speaking to ELITE, Dr. Phudhiphorn said: “The Bangkok Hospital was the first private hospital in Thailand to start using the new imaging system, which allows neurosurgeons to perform minimal invasive spine surgery with real-time, three-dimensional imaging and intra-operative navigation.”
Working in conjunction with StealthStation® surgical navigation system, O-ARM is a non-invasive, painless, CT scanner with an O-shaped arm that surrounds patient’s body while he or she lies on a table. The arm can move up and down the body to provide surgeons with real-time, 3-D images.
With the help of O-ARM, surgeons at the Bangkok Hospital can now view a patient’s anatomy in the operative position, monitor the status of the surgery and verify surgical changes before the patient leaves the surgical suite. As a result, patients receive less invasive surgeries, faster recovery time and improved outcomes, Dr. Phudhiphorn added.
On Elite Magazine Issue : Sep 2010
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