Minimally invasive procedures, where physicians access the inside of the body through a tiny incision, are quickly becoming the choice method for treating a number of life-threatening conditions previously addressed by major operations. Last year, minimally invasive procedures accounted for 17% of all surgical operations performed in the U.S., according to a study by BCC Research. The global market for minimally invasive surgery devices and equipment is expected to grow by 46 percent over the next five years, from an estimated $14.4 billion in 2011 to $21.1 billion in 2016.
However, for the method to work, the physicians need to “see” and “guide” their instruments inside the patient’s body. GE’s new x-ray image guided system, called Discovery IGS 730 1, is an extension of their eyes and hands. The machine glides around the operating room like a robot. It arrives by the patient and backs away when needed, using a laser-guided positioning system to find its place. The machine will “help revolutionize minimally invasive imaging,” says Hooman Hakami, President and CEO of Interventional Systems at GE Healthcare.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt introduced GE’s innovative Discovery IGS 730 imaging machine at the 2011 RSNA trade show on Monday.
Minimally invasive procedures have several benefits over traditional open operations. The method reduces patient trauma, infections, recovery times, and shortens hospital stays. It also allows physicians to treat high-risk patients for whom traditional surgery was not an option.
The procedures range from artery widening to delivering tumor killing drugs to cancerous growths and treating aneurysms.
Traditionally there have been only two categories of imaging systems available. Physicians had to manipulate patients around a machine that was fixed to the floor or slide a large imaging system attached to rails and suspended from the ceiling.
GE spent three years in development and came up with a brand new class of imaging technology: the Discovery IGS 730.
This system glides around the operating room like a robot on wheels, arriving by and backing away from the patient when needed, using a laser-guided positioning system to find its place.
The system is powered by an automated guidance vehicle and rolls anywhere in the room freely. Its only tether is a sleeve of cables that trails the machine.
The robotic semblance is no coincidence. The GE engineer who designed the mobility system got the idea by watching robotic warehousing equipment at a trade show.
The system knows precisely where it is because of a laser-guided “indoor GPS” system attached to the top of the device. “The system is constantly triangulating its position by sending and receiving laser beams to and from special reflectors attached to the wall,” says Hakami.
A key component of the machine is a sleek, C-shaped arm attached to the mobile console. The arm slides automatically around the patient’s body. GE widened its diameter so that it could tilt farther and view the body from a broader variety of angles, as well as accommodate larger patients.
One end of the arm is capped with an x-ray source and the other with a detector. The detector converts x-ray signals into real-time, high-quality images that allow the physician to precisely thread a medical device through the body to the target.
In case of complications during the procedure, the machine has a “one-touch back out” feature that swiftly moves to the side of the room, leaving the space around the patient open to move other equipment in place.
Says Hakami: “Our job is to enable physicians to provide hope for their patients. Discovery is a big, continued step forward towards that goal.”
1Discovery IGS 730 is 510k pending with the FDA, and not yet available for sale in the United States.
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