Cooper Neurological Institute premiers two new operating suites
The Cooper Neurological Institute has two state-of-the-art OR’s featuring the latest image guidance technology. The two operating suites—one primarily for cranial procedures and the other slated for spinal procedures—also feature an intraoperative CT on rails.
Intraoperative imaging in neurosurgery is invaluable in establishing the best surgical outcome, especially for tumor resection. When coupled with surgical navigation technology, total tumor removal is enhanced, since imaging can be updated and used to further guide the surgeon.
In addition to obvious intraoperative advantages, a post-operative scan can be performed in-place, while the patient is still in the OR, so that further intervention can be performed if necessary. Cooper is one of the first hospitals nationally, and the only Neurology OR in the region, to have an intraoperative CT on rails.
There are several advantages to using intraoperative CTs over MRI’s including the fact that MRI compatibility precautions are not an issue. Additionally, CT offers faster image acquisition and better geometric accuracy for image guidance. Previously acquired high-field MRI images can be fused with newly acquired CT for surgical navigation.
Therapeutic hypothermia saves brain functions in cardiac arrest patients
Patients affected by cardiac arrest, stroke, or brain trauma often face the risk of ischemic injury to the brain due to insufficient blood flow. Critical care doctors at Cooper University Hospital use noninvasively induced therapeutic hypothermia to lower a patient’s body temperature to around 33º C to reduce the risk of ischemic injury. Data suggests that the earlier hypothermia is induced, the better the subject’s outcome. However, therapeutic hypothermia remains partially effective even when initiated as long as 6 hours after collapse.
Cooper utilizes the Arctic Sun cooling system to induce hypothermia non-invasively. Fully conductive pads covering 40% of a patient’s surface area circulate temperature-controlled fluid by means of negative pressure. The control module allows a patient’s temperature to be altered at an approximate rate of 1.5 – 1.8 °C an hour to an accuracy of 0.2 °C, with less side effects than invasive procedures. Once cooled for 24 hours, patients are slowly re-warmed to a normal temperature. This therapy has been shown to significantly reduce brain damage and improve survival after cardiac arrest.
“There is no question that therapeutic hypothermia is successful in providing neuroprotection for post-cardiac arrest patients,” says Stephen Trzeciak, MD, Cooper Division of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine. To date, Cooper has cooled nearly 100 cardiac arrest victims.