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ably got really nauseous
when that happened," he
says. "That's not a prob-
lem with the deflectable
tips."
Overall, he points out,
studies have produced
mixed results regarding
the ultimate benefit of 3D
visualization. In the mean-
time, technology is also
improving current high-
def visualization. For
example, one company
has a high-definition imag-
ing system that automati-
cally adjusts the picture
when the foreground gets
too bright, making it easi-
er, or sometimes possible,
to see background struc-
tures.
"It's pretty cool," says
Dr. Renton. "It tones down
anything that's reflecting
light on the scope, so it
brightens the distal image
and gets rid of the glare
effect, and it does it all in
real time."
T
he promise of 4K ultra-HD video in the OR — video roughly
4 times as vivid as high-definition — remains tantalizing, but
elusive. Ultra-HD monitors are already available, but the
challenge of making the needed camera equipment small enough
and affordable enough that it can be used routinely in minimally inva-
sive surgery is daunting. But the effort is moving forward.
In February, a technology company released a short video
(tinyurl.com/md8usb6) touting "Belgium's first liver laparoscopy in
4K." A surgeon named Mathieu D'Hondt is seen performing and later
describing the surgery. "We used 2 screens," says Dr. D'Hondt, "our
original HD screen, which I thought had excellent image quality (and)
next to it we had the 4K screen. It's another world. You can see a lot of
details you otherwise don't see."
Meanwhile, a U.S. manufacturer has just come out with a 4K 3D dis-
play for surgical microscopes, which it describes as "a unique technology
NEW FRONTIERS
Is 4K (Finally) On the Way?
