Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital's outpatient surgery center is the first in the Santa Clarita Valley to acquire new technology that will elevate the level of care and safety for breast cancer surgery patients by reducing anesthesia time and providing surgeons and radiologists instantaneous access to images.
The Bioptics CoreVISION remote specimen imaging system, which is primarily found at large, teaching hospitals and universities, increases the standard of patient care by providing instant verification of excised breast cancer tissue for patients undergoing surgery and features the latest in digital technology for processing images of breast tissue and transferring them instantly to radiologists in the Sheila R. Veloz Breast Imaging Center.
"The specimen imager enables the surgeon and radiologist to view the x-ray image of a breast mass in real time simultaneously from the operating room and the radiology office, to confirm that all margins are clear of cancer," said Donna Ferguson, RN, MBA, director of outpatient surgery at Henry Mayo and the SRVBC. "It is the first machine of its kind in the SCV and is currently used primarily in the larger teaching hospitals."
Gregory Senofsky, MD, founder and surgical director of the Breast Institute, medical director of the Sheila R. Veloz Breast Center, and a clinical faculty member of the UCLA School of Medicine, said the main advantage of the new imaging system is the time it will save—for the patient under anesthesia and the surgery team.
"The Bioptics is a mini x-ray machine that can do remote transmissions from the operating room," Dr. Senofsky said. "The results are transmitted directly to the imaging center [Sheila R. Veloz Breast Imaging Center] and to radiology. That allows doctors to bring patients out of anesthesia quicker which is beneficial for our patients."
Dr. Senofsky, who performs 10 to 12 surgeries a week, said another advantage of the Bioptics machine is that patients will be able to schedule these critical procedures much sooner.
"This new machine will allow us to do more and help more people," he said. "It also saves time under general anesthesia. It makes everything easier for everyone."
The purchase of the $100,000 piece of hi-tech digital equipment was partly made possible through the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation's Breast Cancer Awareness campaign fundraiser last October; the Hospital also helped fund the purchase.
For more information about the 2011 Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, contact the Foundation at (661) 200-1200.
