A new FreeHand is out
"Robotic systems, designed and manufactured by OR Productivity PLC’s FreeHand, hold and manipulate laparoscopes and cameras during keyhole
(laparoscopic) surgical procedures, providing a rock-steady image and
eliminating the need for medical assistants to hold them.
The company’s new robotic arms have been roughly halved in size while
retaining a solid image, making FreeHand’s solutions smaller, more
precise and more flexible than any other existing robotic medical
assistant.
FreeHand presented its new system to the public at Annual American
College of Surgeons meeting in San Diego. The devices were very
favorably received attracting attention from surgeons around the world.
Interest in combining FreeHand with the new generation of robotic
operating tools that are emerging was widespread among both suppliers
and surgeons.
The addition of this new robotic arm to its line of products will
increase the range of surgical procedures that can easily utilize
FreeHand meaning a robot assistant can be provided for the full range of
abdominal procedures.
The firm’s clinically-proven system has already been used in over
10,000 Urological, Gynaecological and General Surgical procedures all
over the world and is contributing to improved surgical outcomes,
patient recovery rates, operating room efficiencies and is lowering
overall procedural costs.
FreeHand says the system can be integrated with existing operating
theater equipment and practices. It estimates that more than eight
million surgical procedures worldwide - and every hospital in the world
that performs laparoscopic procedures - could benefit from its products.
Recent research showed that NHS hospitals in England could undertake
17 percent (280,000) more non-emergency operating procedures every year
with better-organized operating theater schedules.
The research, which analyzed 2016 data collected from operating
theaters in 100 NHS Trusts in England revealed that more than two hours a
day are wasted on average.
This suggests that operating theaters are significantly underutilized, with each procedure being more costly as a result.
The FreeHand system enables surgeons to operate with fewer
assistants, thereby contributing to removing one of the key drivers to
delays – restriction on staff availability.
Combined with the ability to reduce average procedure time, NHS
hospitals adopting such a system would allow them to carry out more
operations without the need for extra resources, and potentially save
hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost procedure time.
Surgeons performing invasive surgery with the company’s robotic arm
are able to see a still, steady image of the area they are operating on.
In the past, holding a keyhole camera for several hours tended to
produce an unstable image. Shaky, ultra-realistic images generated from
3D and 4K cameras can cause motion sickness and nausea when viewed for
long periods of time.
But FreeHand means that humans are no longer needed to hold the
camera, freeing up staff for more skilled work and stopping the need for
staff to be pulled from other areas just to hold a camera.
“Traditional surgical telescopes and cameras used in keyhole surgery
are held and manipulated by the operating surgeon. In addition, they
need trained medical staff with a steady hand to hold the camera, all
for up to four hours at a time or longer.” Explains Charles Breese,
Chairman of OR Productivity."
Source: GetSurrey, News Medical
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