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S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4
small anatomical structures.
Fortunately, that level of detail isn't crucial for most orthopedic procedures.
For one thing, surgeons are typically looking at larger anatomy — bones and
joints. For another, they're already finding ways to push the surgical envelope,
thanks to the sharp, higher-resolution images provided by the latest C-arm mod-
els.
Take foreign body removal, for example. If we have a patient who's stepped
on glass or a nail, instead of blindly digging around the anatomy and hoping to
find the object or target area, we can use the C-arm to locate it and go straight
to it.
2. Usability
End-user operability isn't something to take for granted. How easy is a C-arm to
use and to manipulate around the patient? Is it technologist-friendly? Be sure
you take models for test drives before investing a significant portion of your
capital equipment budget in a purchase.
The advent of mini C-arms, which can be moved easily from room to room,
has pushed imaging boundaries even further. In most cases, we can use the mini
C-arms for anything involving the distal extremities — lower legs, feet, ankles,
elbows, hands and wrists. They're versatile enough to be used in foreign body
removal, trigger point injections and arthrograms — when patients have dye
injected into joints to check for any leakage or tear in the joint space.
Although we can use the mini C-arms for almost anything if a patient's anato-
my is small enough, we've also been able to incorporate our larger C-arms into
guiding spinal injection procedures done for pain management and for radiofre-
quency ablation. But for thicker parts of the anatomy — the hips and pelvis, for
example — typically we need to use the larger C-arms in lead-lined rooms. A lot
depends on the body habitus. You sometimes need that extra power to be able to
penetrate denser anatomy.
I N T R A O P I M A G I N G
