|
New computer- modelling program cuts down need for repeat ops
RE-ASSEMBLING a face mangled in an accident or one ravaged by cancer hangs on a plastic surgeon's judgment and skill, but an advanced software now brings more precision to the task.
Called iPlan 2.6, the computer-modelling software merges images of the damaged area from X-rays with those from computed tomographic scans to build a 3-D virtual model of the patient's skull when it was whole.
From this, surgeons can map out, ahead of the reconstructive surgery, how repairs can best be done.
The software also feeds the surgeon real-time data during the operation by comparing the measurements of the skull against those in the virtual model.
Associate Professor Lim Thiam Chye, who heads the National University Hospital's division of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, said the device has cut down on the need for repeated operations to correct misplacement of bones.
Without the software, the swelling of soft tissues, for example, can throw off a surgeon's judgment of the amount of surgical work needed.
Till now, one in five patients has needed repeat operations. In a case overseas, one patient required 15 operations to correct misplaced implants, said Prof Lim.
With iPlan 2.6, he told The Straits Times, he now plans the operation and stores the information in a thumb drive.
In the operating theatre, he uploads the data from the thumb drive into a navigation device.
Images of the patient's skull, reconstructed virtually ahead of time, are overlapped with images of the damaged areas. The differences are visible and and can be measured.
"This reduces the chance of misplacement during the reconstruction," he said.
He added that the software has thus lowered risks and increased the degree of success of the operation, and makes for less-invasive surgery.
"It lets me find out the most optimum way to operate on the patient. I go through virtually the steps of the actual operation before I get to the real patient," he said.
Though the technology was available last year on a trial basis, NUH bought the iPlan 2.6 work station only in January.
The creators of iPlan 2.6 had used it mainly on Caucasians, so it had to be put through trials to see if it worked on Asian faces as well.
As it turns out, it does.
Since January, 50 reconstructive operations have been done at NUH on either accident or cancer victims - and not one has needed a second operation.
Facial injuries seen to in the emergency room are a result of road and worksite accidents; deformities come from tumours in the area.
Police counted 1,766 fatalities or injuries from speed-related accidents; another 10,018 injuries took place at worksites.
Prof Lim's division is working on incorporating clinical data into iPlan 3.0, a souped-up version of the software.
He said the new program is likely to be ready at the end of the year.
|
