Appy days Doc! St George Private introduces Smartphone surgery St George Private Doctors are revolutionising the OR with new smartphone technology. New treatment for Coronary Artery Disease The latest cardiac technology is now available at Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital performed by interventional cardiologists, Dr Peter Larsen and Dr Stuart Butterly. It involves the use of Absorb, the world’s first drug eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) for the treatment of coronary artery disease. It has been successfully used to treat more than 125,000 people with coronary artery disease in countries around the world. Sunshine Coast University Private is the only private hospital north of the Gold Coast to use this technology to improve long term heart health outcomes for patients. Absorb is designed to open a blocked heart vessel in the same way as a traditional metallic stent and then dissolve naturally. Absorb is a first-of-its-kind device that functions like a permanent, metallic stent by opening a blocked artery in the heart, restoring blood flow and providing relief from symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, unlike a metallic stent, which permanently restricts vessel movement and limits future treatment options, Absorb is made of a naturally dissolvable material that leaves behind a restored vessel in a natural state, free of a permanent implant. An unrestricted vessel with restored vessel function has the potential to flex, pulse and dilate in response to various demands on the heart, based on people's lifestyle and activities, and allows for potential future treatment options. Evidence suggests that without a permanent metallic stent remaining in the artery, natural vessel function is possible, 8 The Ramsay Way 2015 | 04 leading to improved long-term heart health. Dr Peter Larsen and Dr Stuart Butterly have extensive experience using the heart stent and have successfully treated a large number of cardiac patients. “We’re committed to helping people live their best possible lives and introducing new cardiac technologies to our patients that create the potential for better outcomes for people,” Dr Larsen said. HOSPITALS Dr Peter Larsen Dr Stuart Butterfly. The iPhone is an indispensable part of our daily lives – and the world’s most ubiquitous piece of communications technology is revolutionising medicine too. Recently, one doctor mid-flight in the US used his iPhone, in combination with an AliveCor – an iPhone-mounted sensor capable of delivering clinically accurate electrocardiograms – to measure the vital signs of a passenger experiencing severe chest pains at 30,000 feet. When the readings indicated that the passenger was, in fact, having a heart attack, the doctor recommended an urgent landing. The passenger survived after being rushed to hospital. Increasingly iPhones are being used for a range of surgical and hospital procedures including the diagnosis of skin cancer or Apps such as iWander (used by some hospitals as a GPS tracker for Alzheimer’s patients who wander). And now they’re being used in the OR at St George Private. “iPhones are the most powerful tool in our communications arsenal and they are revolutionising patient care in the operating room too,” says St George Private Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Sam MacDessi. “We’ve recently introduced new technology in the OR called OrthAlign that allows precise surgical implantation of knee replacement prostheses. This involves the use of a palm-sized computer with the same technology found in smart phones to perform knee replacement surgery.” This baby is a real wedding crasher A heavily pregnant bridesmaid upstaged her best friend on the day of her wedding. The bride, Bernadette Turner, 24, from Ipswich, south-west of Brisbane, Queensland, received a call from her best friend Melissa White, 24, in the early hours of her wedding day. She called the bride telling her that she had gone to St Andrew’s Ipswich Private Hospital the night before and was expecting to give birth that day although she was still five weeks away from her expected due date. In the hour following that phone call Ms White, gave birth on October 17 to Hunter Athol Kennith Anderson, who weighed in at a healthy 3.6 kilograms (six pounds, 12 ounces). Before the wedding ceremony Ms Turner made a quick detour to the maternity ward at St. Andrew's Ipswich Private Hospital to visit the new mum. Wedding party in hospital St George Private Hospital's Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Darren Chen, Sister Gill Littlefair and Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Sam MacDessi Bernadette Turner welcomes new baby Hunter to the world Find us on Facebook facebook.com/ramsayhealth
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