VANCOUVER -- Staff at Vancouver General Hospital showed off a new state-of-the-art operating room on Monday.
Doctors say the $7.4-million hybrid OR combines advanced imaging and surgical equipment in the same room, allowing doctors with different specialties to work side-by-side without having to shuffle patients to different areas of the hospital.
"This is really the future of surgery," said Dr. Marcel Dvorak, an orthopedic surgeon. "The surgeons, the radiologists, everyone is there. Anesthesia to help resuscitate and support the patient. That will save lives. It will make a dramatic difference."
The room includes a machine that pumps a dye into arteries, allowing cardio-vascular systems to be seen on big screens in real-time so surgeons can easily identify and work on ruptured arteries and blood vessels.
“The mortality, the death rate of patients, goes up with each minute that goes on that that bleeding isn’t controlled,” said Dr. Dvorak.
In the past, patients have had to be transferred between the operating room, radiology and other departments – now almost everything can be done in the hybrid operating room.
Most of the equipment in the room is built in and descends from the ceiling, allowing teams of surgeons more room to work.
The hybrid operating room is the only one of its kind in the Lower Mainland.
It cost $7.4-million to build and all of the money came through donations to the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation.
Tour the VGH Hybrid OR by moving your cursor over the image below:
