San Juan Regional Medical Center is now utilizing an O-arm Surgical Imaging System in certain surgical procedures.
SJRMC is the first medical facility in the Four Corners to offer the technology. The O-arm is a mobile intraoperative imaging system that provides real-time images of a patient’s anatomy in both two and three dimensions. This type of imaging allows the surgeon to navigate his or her surgical instrumentation with enhanced precision and accuracy, resulting in improved patient safety.
“The O-arm has two exciting things about it, guidance and confirming placement of instrumentation,” said neurological surgeon Dr. Christopher Payne. “It tells us where to put the instrumentation, so as instruments enter the bone we can see where in the bone they are going. Then after we can check with another scan to see exactly where everything went.”
Along with the navigation and surgical feedback capabilities, the O-arm system provides enhanced 3D visibility, enhances minimally invasive surgical approaches, reduces the risk of complications, improves surgical outcomes, streamlines workflow and decreases operative time.
“It helps us place our instrumentation in a timelier fashion. From a patient standpoint that means less time in the operating room, less time under general anesthesia. Less surgical time typically results in decreased infection rates and increases the safety in the operating room. That is something we want to maximize as much as possible,” Payne said.
With the addition of the O-arm, SJRMC’s neurosurgeons now have the ability to use 3D imaging and provide improved navigation technology during cranial and spinal procedures.
