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screens. Either that, or you're saving up and holding out for the next big thing: 4K ultra high-def, which will deliver 4 times the picture resolution of today's 1080p, full-HD displays.
4K is derived from a 3,840 x 2,160 pixel matrix, or more than 8 million pixels compared with HD's 2 million pixels. 4K is better than HD for the same reason
that HD was better than standard definition: The more pixels you have on the screen, the better the image quality. Dr. Palter calls 4K "a fundamental change in resolution, color correctness, character and precision in the image."
Being able to see details and structures that were undetectable before translates into more accurate, error-free and efficient surgery, as well as less surgeon fatigue, he says. That's the promise of ultra high-definition laparoscopic surgery. One reviewer put it this way: "What [4K] means in terms of potential image clarity is more fine detail, greater texture and an almost photographic emulsion of smoothness. A 4K display reveals so much
more nuance and detail — the difference can be astonishing."
In addition to the amazing resolution of HD endoscopic images, Dr. Palter notes that 4K can manipulate wavelengths of light — autofluorescence, near band, near infrared, narrow band imaging — to take you beyond what the eye can see. For example, using an autofluorescent system from Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Dr. Palter was able to manipulate different wavelengths of light to see beyond the capabilities of the naked eye and diagnose otherwise invisible endometriosis. "Suddenly disease was glowing fluorescent green that would have otherwise been missed," he says.
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"The transformation from HD to 4K will be as dramatic as the transformation from standard-definition to HD."
— Steven Palter, MD, who performed the world's first HD and 4K surgeries
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