ENGINEERS travelled to the Launceston General Hospital from as far as the Netherlands yesterday to watch multimillion-dollar technology in use during surgery on a patient.
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They were the first visitors to watch the game-changing hybrid theatre in action, with the LGH not yet ready to accept similar requests to view the theatre from hospitals around Australia.
Director of Surgery Brian Kirkby said staff were still getting used to the theatre’s complicated machinery and exploring its potential, two months and more than 100 surgeries after its first use.
The theatre is unique for its $1.5 million X-ray machine, which can move across the room as needed.
‘‘It incorporates very high-end high-quality imaging including the ability to do CT scanning on the operating table during an operation, that makes sure we can position things more accurately and confirm things are in the correct position,’’ Mr Kirkby said.
‘‘We’ve also got a significant reduction in the amount of radiation dose that the patients were having from the old machinewe were using.’’
Mr Kirkby said patients previously had to be moved between floors, sometimes repeatedly, when doctors needed an image during surgery – a time-consuming and potentially risky exercise.
‘‘When a patient’s anaesthetised and not very well, they’ve got a lot of tubes and bits and pieces hanging around and are very difficult to move,’’ Mr Kirkby said.
He said the hybrid’s imaging was also superior to what they previously used, meaning improved urology, spinal surgery and vascular surgery outcomes.
It’s an exciting prospect for specialist radiographer Mark Johnston, who moved to Launceston to pursue an interest in vascular surgery 11 years ago, only to see the service reduced.
During yesterday’s visit, the machine didn’t get much action given the nature of the surgery – a hernia repair.
But Mr Kirkby said it had to be used as an ordinary theatre while the hospital’s four older theatres were refurbished, and they were operating at limited capacity.
He said the visit by the Philips engineers – who created the equipment for the theatre–was important to help staff make the best of the machine, but also for the engineers to see what Launceston’s experiences with the hybrid could mean for the rest of Australia.
Mr Kirkby said the LGH was the first regional hospital in the country to have ‘‘anything like this’’.
‘‘A lot of other people in Australia will just use it for vascular work, and they won’t use is as much for the spinal work and the urology like we will,’’ Mr Kirkby said.
‘‘But that’s the sort of stuff country towns, regional towns will need to use the machine for, because they can’t have a narrow focus and justify a machine sitting there to use just one or two days a week when it costs millions of dollars.’’
