Philips unveils 'hybrid operating room' at TCT

Royal Philips Electronics will integrate the MAQUET Magnus surgical table with Philips’ cardiovascular x-ray systems to create an efficient ‘hybrid operating room’ environment for a full range of minimally-invasive and open surgical procedures. Philips made the announcement yesterday at the 2009 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting in San Francisco this week.

According to Philips, because of the worldwide move away from open surgical procedures toward same-day, minimally invasive surgery, there’s been more need in hospitals for rooms that are flexible and easily adaptable, and are more able to accommodate the full range of current and future surgical technologies.

The solution provided by Philips and MAQUET will, according to Philips, offer a cost-effective response to the changing healthcare landscape by optimizing workflow and simplifying the room planning and installation process. The tailored, simplified work environment will help increase the efficiency of procedures and decrease the amount of time that the patient spends in hospital, the company said.

At TCT Philips also unveiled the 3D Heart Navigator interventional tool, which combines 3D CT images of a patients’ cardiac anatomy captured before a procedure into a single image with an overlay of x-ray fluoroscopy information.

Both offerings are scheduled for commercial release in 2010.

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