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V I S U A L I Z A T I O N
definition video displays will transform surgery. "The transformation from HD to 4K will be as dramatic as the transformation from standard definition to HD," says Dr. Palter, an obstetrician, gynecologist, reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist who in 2009 performed the world's first 4K super high-definition laparoscopy at Syosset Hospital in Long Island, N.Y. "Like looking with your naked eye into the body," says Dr. Palter, MD, medical and scientific director at Gold Coast IVF in Woodbury, N.Y. "The images are the sharpest, most detail-rich and color-correct endoscopic images ever created anywhere. There is not a more accurate view inside the human body. Every-one thought HD was as far as you can go, and what I showed them is this is just the tip of the iceberg."
The difference between HD and 4K?
"4K ultra HD? We still haven't upgraded to HD!" you're probably saying to yourself. Relax. HD might be perfectly fine for your ORs. "Getting by with good, but older technology," is how Dr. Palter puts it.
And it's not like HD is an outdated technology by any means. Just think: In 2000, most people didn't have HD yet in their homes. A frame of endoscopic video made by an HD camera and shown on an HD monitor has more than twice the number of scanning lines than a frame of conventional video does,
making for much crisper images.
"Right now, the benefit [of 4K] has not yet been proven," says Dr. Palter. "There is nothing yet that increased resolution has proven you could do that you
couldn't do before. But the more you improve your image, the better tool you give people to work with." Even though Dr. Palter says you need to have the best possible image that you can have and afford in your workflow, "I would still wait until you can't get by with what you have" before thinking of upgrading to 4K.
But if you still haven't upgraded to high-def cameras and monitors, we hope your surgeons enjoy staring at those dishwater-gray images on your dull video
