Click image for video

You must have Quicktime installed to view this video

Faster recovery times, less risk of infection, better comfort and a faster scheduling of surgeries are what patients at Meadville Medical Center can expect as the hospital upgrades its operating room facilities with state-of-the-art technology.

The medical center recently outfitted the first of its five surgical suites at Liberty Street with the latest, most advanced equipment available. The other four surgical suites are scheduled to have similar upgrades this year while four surgical suites at Grove Street will be upgraded in 2009, according to Jay Parker, manager of hospital’s surgical department.

“Meadville Medical Center has committed to having the latest technology available to the surgeons to do the best job available,” said Parker.

Meadville had a 9 percent increase in the number of surgeries performed in 2007 and expects a 5 percent increase this year. Overall, a 25 percent increase in surgeries is expected nationwide in the next decade as the Baby Boom generation ages, Parker said.

The new equipment will allow use of more laparascopic, endoscopic and arthroscopic procedures which use a thin, lighted, telescope-like instrument which act like a video camera for surgeries such as gallbladder removal, he said.

Those procedures are minimally invasive to the body, meaning small surgical instruments and the telescope-like instrument are inserted through three to four tiny incisions — usually less than 1/4 inch each — and are used to remove the gallbladder, compared to conventional surgery, which can have a long single incision.

“It’s a two-week turnaround (for surgical recovery) versus a six-week or longer,” Parker said of laparascopic gallbladder surgery versus conventional surgery.

The new surgery suite, unveiled at an open house Tuesday, has two single Nuvo surgical lights and flat-panel high-definition liquid crystal display monitors; a Nuvo Vplex four-fiber optic video integration system and the Nuvo V cam in-light surgical camera; and Nuvo Navigator anesthesia and equipment booms.

The new surgical suite cost the hospital approximately $275,000 and was part of its capital improvement budget.

“The Nuvo surgical light is the coolest light on the market, meaning surgeons are comfortable and patient safety is improved since the room temperature does not have to be lowered to accommodate for the heat produced by the surgery lights,” said Parker. “A cooler light in the OR also reduces the need for disposable patient warming blankets,” saving money on supplies.

The new video system allows surgeons and staff to select from any of four different input sources.

It allows doctors to view a patient’s X-rays, MRI images or files without having to leave the operating table area, he said.