There was excitement among surgeons and technicians treating life-threatening conditions such as aneurysms and stroke as MUSC Health unveiled its second Icono neuroendovascular package.
“We had one Icono installed in January 2021, which is the latest iteration of Siemens’ angiography machine. At the time, we were one of five hospitals in the United States that had the Icon. We were the first to adopt the technology. Now, the novelty is that we have our others in the neighboring apartments, “said neurosurgeon Alejandro Spiotta, Ph.D.
“So we are not only the only hospital in the country to have this latest technology, but we are also one of only a few in the country that currently has more than one.”
David Zaas, MD, executive director of MUSC Health-Charleston, said he would help patients across the state and beyond. “We are really excited about this expansion of innovative technology that will enable our teams to have a greater impact, saving more lives through outstanding clinical care and state-of-the-art research.
The purchase of Icono is part of a partnership between the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and technology company Siemens Healthineers, which was founded five years ago. At the time, leaders of both organizations spoke of their vision of a transformational relationship. Spiotta said the new endovascular suite with another Icon is a realization of that.
He also summed up the purpose of the neuroendovascular apartment. “It is a highly specialized room for high-tech procedures that is based on radiation for visualization. It is a procedure room where we perform critical procedures such as aneurysm treatments, stroke, revascularization procedures, some of the most complex, urgent and urgent procedures in the neurospace.
Icono is a recording machine - it allows the medical team to see the inside of the patient without invasive surgery. Spiotta said that MUSC Health had used an earlier version of Icono for years, but that the time had come to upgrade.
“The new Icono offers many different functionalities that allow us to visualize the arteries of the brain in better ways. This way we can take better care of patients and take care of complex diseases. Years of development have passed. “They have higher resolution images at lower radiation doses for both the patient and the staff,” Spiotta said.
“It allows us to make specialized functional images of the brain to determine whether an area can be saved or not. “Then it also connects to the new robotics we use to treat patients, which promises to make procedures safer and allow us to perform procedures remotely, from a distance, to extend our reach to patients,” Spiotta said.
“In previous generations, if you wanted to get better images at critical moments, for example, when working with a vessel below a millimeter, you would have to deliver more radiation to get better images. Now you have better pictures to start with a fraction of the radiation. “
The new device and package will be used a lot. Spiottin’s team treats an average of five to 10 patients a day. “We have quite a number of scheduled procedures, like someone with an aneurysm that did not rupture, and we will treat it to prevent it from rupturing in the future.” But today we also usually have a few emergencies coming. That’s why it’s so important to have another Icono, so if one of them is tied up and we get an emergency, we can go straight to the other. ”
Spiotta said that the endovascular team of MUSC Health in Florence will also receive Icono this summer, which will offer the most modern care to patients in the Pee Dee region. “Both Florence and I had equipment that was satisfactory for doing the job, but this is a very big investment of our hospital management. For me, it just shows that MUSC is committed to providing the best care for our patients in the state.
Neuroendovascular technician Damian Browne agreed, speaking while preparing the apartment for the third patient on the day of its opening. “The new apartment is fantastic. You know, it allows us to double things at the same time with the help of the latest technology. So we continue to lead what we do. It just shows that we are willing to go much further to make things much better for everyone. ”