4. Ease of set up
Photo registration software is a slick new technology that's recently
received FDA approval, according to Dr. Senior. "You're able to take
a picture of the patient's face and input it into the image-guided sys-
tem, which registers itself to the photograph," he explains. "The
technology uses face recognition software to correlate the patient's
CT scan to the surface anatomy captured in the picture in order to
register the patient's anatomy to the navigation unit."
Dr. Senior says the automated process replaces the need to place
fiducial markers on the patient's face and manually register anatomi-
cal landmarks. "That development should improve the speed and ease
with which units are configured and set up between cases," he adds.
Metal on the surgical field might interfere with the calibration of
some systems, points out Dr. Shah, who voices frustration over some-
times having to clear the area of metal objects when setting up for a
case.
Dr. Shah says it's important to work with a navigation system that
catches the scan of the patient's anatomy faster, so there's less down
time when setting up the unit for use. She has, over time, learned the
tricks to calibrating the systems she uses as quickly as possible, but
agrees that streamlining the process would be a significant improve-
ment to the way she works.
5. Improved recoveries
Dr. Senior says surgeons like to pack nasal cavities with steroid-eluted
stents, which are particularly helpful in polyp cases, because steroids
help prevent polyp recurrence after they've been surgically removed,
and promote healing within the cavity. The limitation of using the
stents is that they're quite expensive — approximately $600 each, so
you'd presumably need 2 per case — and therefore significantly
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