The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) https://web.musc.edu and Synaptive https://www.synaptivemedical.com, a medical device and technology company based in Toronto, signed a five year affiliation agreement earlier this year to bring two Modus V 3D robotic digital microscopes to MUSC Health https://muschealth.org.
This makes the new MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital https://musckids.org the first pediatric hospital in North America to own and operate using the 3D scope system. The full Synaptive system is now installed in an adult operating room at MUSC Health University Hospital and plans are underway to bring Synaptive’s imaging technology to the Charleston hospital.
A pediatric neurosurgeon at MUSC Health first saw Synaptive’s technology at a conference five years ago and was immediately drawn to the possibilities and alerted MUSC Health leaders to look at the technology being developed.
According to Cameron Piron, President, Synaptive Medical, “We see how imaging, automation, and robotics can be integrated to offer not just better care for patients, but better care across the healthcare system.”
MUSC Children’s Health is using Synaptive’s integrated suite of technologies that includes the Modus V 3D robotic digital microscope in conjunction with their planning software and navigation system.
With traditional microscopes, the surgeon looks through a viewfinder similar to the microscope that most people are familiar with from high school biology. However, using traditional microscopes during surgery can reduce the surgeon’s field of view to only what is directly in front of the microscope.
The Modus V, however, can be maneuvered to look at the surgical site from any vantage point while the surgeon can remain in their original position. The Modus V’s 3D heads-up display is shown on a large 4K screen visible to everyone in the room.
According to Sunil Patel, MD. Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, “Although the technology was developed with neurosurgery in mind, other specialties will want to use it as well as this technology takes medicine one step closer to true robotic surgery.”