Chief Complaint

THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE

Sacred Heart Hospital – in Eau Claire, Wisc. – is the first hospital in the country to use a a specialized neurosurgical suite providing state-of-the-art treatment for neurosurgery, spine and trauma patients. It is also the first hospital of its size to have a BrainSUITE® with the IMRIS iMRI (intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging) operating suite and eventually the iCT (intra-operative computed tomography) operating suite. And Sacred Heart is one of only 17 hospitals in the world to offer this technology configuration for patients.

A configuration of advanced imagery and mapping technology, the Smart OR helps neurosurgeons perform complex brain, spine and trauma procedures in a more effective way.“Imagine navigating a tightrope blindfolded. If you deviate off the path, even slightly, you fall. In surgery, the Smart OR is the ultimate tool ensuring that we don’t ‘fall,’” Kamal Thapar, MD says. “The technology goes beyond what the human eye can see, removing that blindfold. It provides real-time, high definition data, allowing us to chart an exact path to tumors during operations – so surrounding, healthy tissue is not damaged.”

“The Smart OR is the operating room of the future,” Thapar adds. “It is a quantum leap forward in the way surgery is performed. It’s ‘smart’ technology – it’s ‘smart’ care.”

A far cry from PGH’s ORs. Dare I dream that the LCB might hold one of these someday?