OMHS sixth US hospital to install Artis zeego® in operating room
Robotic imaging technology begins September 15
OWENSBORO, KY (September 14, 2009) Patients undergoing endovascular and cardiovascular procedures at Owensboro Medical Health System will soon benefit from a new interventional imaging system that produces faster, more accurate and complete images that aid advanced surgery and treatments.
OMHS is the sixth hospital in the United States to install the Artis zeego® in an operating room and one of only 21 hospitals to utilize the advanced imaging equipment. OMHS is the sole Kentucky hospital with a zeego. Medical centers with the equipment in use include the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
“Having this world-class imaging will allow us to do delicate and complex endovascular surgery at a higher level of quality and patient safety,” says Robert Schell, MD, a general and vascular surgeon who serves on the OMHS Board of Directors and chairs the board’s Quality and Safety Committee.
The zeego’s robotic C-arm allows physicians to move the imaging system instead of the patient, allowing virtually unrestricted positioning. It reduces strain on the patient while helping improve treatment by gathering images from a variety of positions that were previously difficult to obtain.
The CT-type images delivered by the zeego are needed to guide physicians through arteries during tedious procedures, such as implanting stents to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Doctors place a flexible catheter through small incisions in the patient’s groin, inserting a stent graft into the aorta through the catheters. Guided by zeego images, the graft can be positioned more accurately in the weak part of the artery, sealing the aneurysm and creating a new path for blood flow.
Because the zeego allows physicians to image larger portions of the body at one time, patients and the entire care team have exposure to lower amounts of radiation. The technology requires less amounts of contrast dye injected into patients—easing strain on kidneys.
The zeego’s adjustable isocenter also supports advanced 3D imaging techniques, including cross-sectional imaging, which allows the physician to see the whole abdomen or the entire liver for chemoembolization and biopsies. The zeego also offers views of the skull and the neck, and expanded views of the spine.
Owensboro Medical Health System serves an 11-county region in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana. The hospital received the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award in 2009, placing it among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation for quality. OMHS is a full-service hospital, employing a workforce of over 3,100. In addition to hospital and rehabilitation services, OMHS includes the HealthPark – a medical-based fitness center – home health services, a wound healing center, three outpatient diagnostic centers, the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center and the McAuley Clinic, which provides healthcare for the uninsured. OMHS also operates Convenient Care, Pennyrile Pulmonary Critical Care and Western Kentucky Rheumatology Center, Owensboro; and MultiCare in Madisonville, Ohio County (downtown Beaver Dam) and Tell City (IN).