Hybrid Operating Room Means Safer, More Precise Surgeries
Cincinnati Children’s is proud to offer a Phillips Azurion hybrid operating room (OR) that combines surgery and interventional radiology in one location. The hybrid OR is the first of its kind for a pediatric hospital, and allows our specialists to provide surgical care that is safer, faster and of the highest quality.
“Since the Hybrid OR opened, it has transitioned from concept to reality and from potential use to a concrete application. It offers advanced imaging and navigational technologies that can be utilized before, during and after surgical procedures,” says John Racadio, MD, director, Interventional Radiology Research and Innovation.
A collaborative approach
The hybrid OR offers state-of-the art imaging capabilities in a sterile operating room. It is an ideal environment for surgeons and interventional radiologists to combine their individual skills and expertise in order to benefit patient care.
Daniel von Allmen, MD, surgeon-in-chief says, “The strength of this new modality of care is not a single expert, of which we have many, but combining the expertise of many varied perspectives to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
Immediate access to imaging technology
The room is equipped with all of the advanced radiology technology a surgeon may need. This includes X-ray, fluoroscopy (live X-ray), ultrasound and computed tomography (CT). Surgeons work side by side in the hybrid OR with interventional radiologists, who specialize in using these imaging technologies.
Imaging can be performed in the hybrid OR just before the surgery to help plan the procedure, during the surgery to identify important anatomy or disease, and after the surgery to evaluate results. In some situations, the surgeon will pull up images taken prior to surgery and overlay them with images taken in the hybrid OR. This can provide important details and help improve safety and accuracy.
In addition, the technology can help surgeons see their surgical tools as they navigate them inside the patient’s body. This improves surgical accuracy and helps surgeons avoid critical structures.
Patient benefits
The hybrid OR opened in 2018 and serves all of the medical center’s pediatric subspecialties, such as general surgery, urology, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and many more. Any surgery requiring radiologic imaging may take place in the hybrid OR. This includes open and minimally invasive surgeries, in which the surgeon operates through small incisions.
Patient benefits include:
- Less time in surgery
- Less anesthesia medication and less time under anesthesia
- Enhanced patient safety
- Improved surgical precision
More than 60 pediatric surgeons at Cincinnati Children’s have completed specialized training to use the hybrid OR. In the hybrid OR’s first 2 years of operation, surgical and interventional radiology teams performed 1,120 procedures on 600 patients.
A commitment to innovation
Cincinnati Children’s has a research laboratory equipped with imaging technology that is identical to the hybrid OR’s. There, surgical and interventional radiology teams can plan procedures and test the technology of the future.
John notes, “We need to continue to build upon early successes and review our data to demonstrate improved outcomes for our patients. We also need to show that these improved outcomes can be achieved in a cost-effective and efficient manner. We are off to a good start but have only scratched the surface of what is possible.”
