News
Live Gynecologic Surgery at North Shore Private Hospital
Dec 14, 2020
North Shore Private Hospital’s multidisciplinary team for endometriosis participated in the recent AAGL 2020 Virtual, 4th Global Congress on Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery.
A live surgery was performed at North Shore Private and viewed by participants around the world. Ramsay Health Care IT organised the install of a dedicated standalone NBN connection to be used for live transmission purposes. The conference was enabled with the Stryker iSuite system, enabling Professor Lam to convey crucial elements of the procedure to his audience. The fully integrated operating theatre allowed live footage from the surgical site to be simultaneously recorded and shared without latency from the Sydney theatre with participants in the US. Coupled with high quality two-way audio and the ability to share live footage from any source, the viewer experience was able to be tailored as desired. Direct connection from the iSuite’s video conferencing codec to the Zoom meeting provided a reliable high quality experience for the duration of the procedure, allowing the procedure itself to take centre stage.
The surgery was led by Professor Alan Lam, gynaecologist who specialises in advanced endosurgery for gynaecology as part of the virtual congress. The live surgery provided a live surgical demonstration of a systematic approach to conducting complex surgery to remove endometriosis affecting ovaries, bowels and ureters, and demonstrated the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to severe endometriosis. Professor Alan Lam was joined by Dr Shahrir Kabir, colorectal surgeon for this complex case.
The case involved a young lady who was in a great deal of distress from pain due to severe endometriosis affecting her ovaries, bowels and ureters. Previous operations attempting removal of her endometriosis at another hospital in Sydney in 2019 were unsuccessful.
During the surgery, the team successfully removed all her endometriosis, repaired the ovaries, and preserved her fertility. Following the surgery, her recovery was quick, with an overnight stay. She was able to resume work and all physical activities a week later.
“Sharing our expertise through a live surgery such as this, is a great example of how technology can be used in an impactful way,” says North Shore Private Hospital’s CEO, Richard Ryan. “Our aim is to support our doctors with the technology they need to continue to embrace these professional development opportunities to both educate others and to learn to enhance the outcomes for our patients.”