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Sardinian hospital looks to the future with latest-generation CAT scanner

21 gennaio 2020 | 18.28
LETTURA: 4 minuti

Sardinian hospital looks to the future with latest-generation CAT scanner

Sardinia's new Mater Olbia hospital has installed a state-of-the-art CAT scanner that allows maximum precision in brain and spinal surgery, the hospital said on Tuesday. The scanner, which only three other centres in Italy possess, is estimated to have cost around a million euros and is further proof of Mater Olbia's driving ambition to be a centre of clinical and technological excellence, according to hospital staff.

The portable 16-slice mobile CAT scanner has a wide gantry (frame) and is specifically designed to be used in operating theatres, i.e. capable of carrying out a scan of the patient in any surgical situation.

"The AIRO BrainLab system is used in neurosurgical operations to remove benign and malignant brain tumours, in spinal pathology, such as stabilization of the spine, and in the functional pathology of movement disorders", said Giovanni Sabatino, Head of Mater Olbia's Operative Neurosurgery.

The equipment allows surgeons to operate on a brain tumour with an image integration system made available to him directly with the microscope in three-dimensional vision, allows him to preserve superior motor and cognitive functions, Sabatino said.

"Furthermore, the surgeon has an additional tool to evaluate the complete removal of the tumour mass in real time. In spinal pathology it allows to carry out operations to stabilise the spinal column, reducing the radiation dose and increasing precision when positioning the screws, thanks to three-dimensional navigation," he said.

"And in the functional pathology of movement disorders, such as Parkinson's and essential tremors, it allows the implantation of deep brain stimulators that improve the quality of life of these patients."

Mater Olbia benefits from infrastructure that allows technologies to integrate and communicate with the hospital's information systems, for example by accessing the patient's previous radiological examinations or the neurosurgeon's planning of an operation, explained Sabatino.

"The strong point of the equipment, which is unique of its kind, is its integration with Mater Olbia's high-tech operating theatres, which amplifies and enhances its potential", said the hospital's Clinical Engineering Service Head, Sandra Demurtas.

It is possible to call up all of the patient's previous radiological examinations and superimpose them on the three-dimensional acquisitions obtained in real time, thanks to the use of intraoperative CT, Demurtas said.

"In this way, during an operation, the neurosurgeon has valuable information available to him that offers maximum surgical precision and the greatest guarantee of preserving the areas of the brain that govern key functions, such as movement or speech," she went on.

Through the integrated navigation system, the surgeon sees the position of his instruments in real time with respect to the patient's anatomy and the previously planned surgical trajectories, Demurtas explained.

"An additional benefit is linked to the possibility of performing CT exams at the end of the surgical phase, in order to verify the perfect outcome of the surgery," said Demurtas.

In addition to the intraoperative CT, the neuronavigation system is integrated with an ultrasound system and the special augmented reality images produced by the system are also made available under the operating microscope, so as to allow their visualization at each stage of the operation.

“We are very proud to be able to announce that Mater Olbia is the only structure on the island that has equipped itself with this new latest-generation device," concluded Mater Olbia's General Manager Alessandra Falsetti.

The technology will enable Sardinians to avoid having to travel to the Italian mainland to undergo delicate procedures such as cranial and spine surgery, Falsetti underlined.

"This further purchase by the hospital once again demonstrates Mater Olbia's willingness to position itself as a centre of excellence," she said.

The private Mater Olbia hospital is a partnership between the Qatar Foundation Endowment economic development agency and Italian foundation Policlinico A, Gemelli University Hospital.

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