Here's how a new 3D visualization system is improving eye surgery at a B.C. hospital

A B.C. hospital now has access to state-of-the-art equipment that will help them perform certain eye surgeries more safely and with better precision.

With funding from Surrey Hospitals Foundation, Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre has acquired a surgical vitrectomy system, the first of its kind in B.C. and one of only a few across Canada.

Dr. Steve Levasseur, division head for retinal surgery at SMH, explained the system allows surgeons to perform extremely small retinal surgeries at "far greater magnification, with better resolution and better depth of field."

"It allows us to operate on very delicate tissue with better view of the tissue that we're working on, which ultimately leads to better visual outcomes," he explained to CTV News Vancouver.

Levasseur said Surrey Memorial Hospital is one of the busiest centres providing retinal surgery and people come from across the province for care.

As a result, the hospital also regularly supports trainees, who will benefit greatly from the new equipment because more people in the operating room will get a chance to see the microscopic surgery on a large monitor. Lavesseur said previously only the surgeon and an assistant would be able to see the procedure.

"When compared to the analogue microscope, which we typically use when we're performing microsurgeries, this one here offers better visualization," Lavasseur said. "Obviously if you see better, you have a lower risk of complications."

In fact, the 3D monitor included in the system is estimated to give 50 per cent more magnification and five times the level of depth perception.

"Ultimately it provides the surgeon an ability to work at (their) best capabilities so that patients ultimately end up with better visual outcomes in the end," Lavasseur said.

Surrey Hospitals Foundation gave $290,000 to fund the two digitally-assisted 3D visualization systems.