Orthopedic surgeon highlights need for equipment upgrades

INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Your giving can a clinician needs novel idea into develop new care by supporting our hospitals.

Neurosciences

OArthroscopy Instruments and Operating Room AV Equipment

$313,600 - Victoria General Hospital rthopedic surgeons treat a range of conditions, including musculoskeletal trauma, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors, and congenital disorders.

$209,000 - Royal Jubilee Hospital

In arthroscopic procedures, I use tiny incisions to get into the joint and view it through a small camera, as opposed to having to open it up through a larger incision. The benefit of smaller incisions is quicker recovery. There can also be less scarring, and many people have a faster and more successful return. Our incision size for arthroplasty has gotten smaller and smaller over time, and there are always new advancements.

• Enables orthopedic surgeons to perform procedures using tiny instruments which do not require large incisions

• Smaller incisions mean quicker recovery time and less scarring

Typically, meniscus tears in the knee and ACL reconstructions—a common injury in which we need to reconnect the strong bands of tissue that help connect the thigh bone to the shinbone—are performed arthroscopically. We also perform many shoulder and ankle surgeries arthroscopically.

• Provides clearer and more precise imaging than current tools

In the case of Matthew and Chelsea’s very sick three-week-old daughter, arthroscopy allowed us to flush fluid through her knee to get rid of her infec -

• Benefits patients with musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumours, and congenital disorders

Automated Chemistry Line

Core Lab at Royal Jubilee Hospital

$2,175,000 tion. For this little one, I was easily able to put six litres of fluid through her knee in a very short time. The surgery took what was a really swollen and infected knee and turned it into a sore knee that would continue to improve—and eventually heal.

• Conducts tests on patient samples such as blood

• Will replace current 20-year-old Chemistry Line (most-used equipment in Island Health) perform now, that’s a massive change in the procedure, with a great improvement in recovery time. My work is really about getting my patients back to a place where they are functioning again and in less pain. We want people to heal and to forget they ever had an injury at all—that’s the ideal scenario. Innovation in orthopedics means doing things a little differently. Quicker recovery times and smaller incisions are innovative, which makes arthroscopy innovative, and newer equipment really helps make this innovation possible.

• Can run over 1,200 tests per hour (current system can run about 1,000 tests per day)

• Can complete an electrolyte panel 15 minutes faster than current system

This new arthroscopy equipment is a much-needed improvement over our old equipment, offering clearer and more precise imaging. We could compare the old equipment to using a cell phone from the eighties—it’s at least 20 years old. If we were to go back 25 years and do an open ACL reconstruction, compared to the arthroscopic reconstructions that we

• Equipped with an emergent test track to fast-track samples needing urgent results

Physiatry Ultrasound

Victoria General Hospital

SURGICAL SERVICES

$44,000

• Produces real-time high-quality diagnostic images

Arthroscopy Instruments and Operating Room AV Equipment

$313,600 - Victoria General Hospital

• Helps physicians accurately identify joints, muscles, and nerves that need to be targeted during procedures

I have a colleague who says that everyone is going to need an orthopedic surgeon at some point in their life. Whether you are a child who falls off the monkey bars or you’re an older individual in need of a joint replacement, it’s in everyone’s best interest to support orthopedic surgery in our community. We see all walks of life, and there is no demographic that is not affected by the work we do.

$209,000 - Royal Jubilee Hospital

• Enables orthopedic surgeons to perform procedures using tiny instruments which do not require large incisions

• Will benefit patients with neurologic disorders such as stroke, MS, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord/brain injuries

• Smaller incisions mean quicker recovery time and less scarring

• Provides clearer and more precise imaging than current tools

• Will be used by Dr. Winston and his team in the Physiatry Rehabilitation Clinic

• Benefits patients with musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumours, and congenital disorders

Dr. Peter Dryden Division Head, Orthopedic Surgery, Island Health