Jewish General Hospital finds tech solution to heart surgery during the pandemic
When COVID-19 hit Montreal, the Jewish General hospital, like many other hospitals, quickly became off-limits for many elective surgeries including for those involving the heart.
Bringing teams of specialized surgeons in for installing cardiac valves, for example, became a logistical nightmare, said Dr. Lawrence Rudski, who is the director of the Azrieli Heart Centre at the Jewish.
"For these procedures, we normally bring in people from outside," he said. "We only did the most urgent cases. We have partnerships with other centres."
The solution involved connecting the team doing the surgery with an expert who was up to date on the very latest intravenous valve replacement technologies.
That doctor, Sam Radhakrishnan, monitored the surgery from his Toronto office.
"We worked in collaboration with our colleague, Dr. Sam Radakrishnan, in Toronto who was able to see almost everything we see in the operating room, and he can comment and we can see every step of the procedure," said Dr. Ali Abualsaud, a cardiologist at the JGH who took part in the experiment.
This is how it works: Dr. Radhakrishnan is watching remotely from his office, while the other team, in Montreal, is inserting a replacement valve through the aorta on the patient. A technician from the valve manufacturer is making sure the device is loaded correctly.
Back in Toronto, Radhakrishnan is monitoring vital signs and other things in real-time on his screens, while providing guidance to the surgeons.
Think of it as a Zoom session on steroids.
"We had to reinvent a way to broadcast all the screens, like fluoroscopy, echography, vital signs and add to augmented reality with lenses," said consultant Marcel Lafontaine, president of Auger Groupe Conseil based in Trois-Rivieres, which developed the platform in partnership with Medtronic Canada.
"Our job was very simple," he said. "Let's bring the operating room to the office of the doctor. The guy can do two cases in the morning, two in the afternoon."
The technology was developed for cardiology, but it can be applied elsewhere.
The valve technology was developed by the Canadian division of Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer.
"We can imagine that it could be expanded to other types of surgeries, and therapies as well, but it was more urgent to carry on in the heart sector," said director Richard Pare.
It's a new world in the operating room, one where virtual reality could soon be the next step.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING NEWS Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'