Hackensack Installs FlexArm Technology for New Hybrid Operating Room in Heart and Vascular Hospital
What you need to know
The Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center has opened a new Hybrid Operating Room with the Philips Azurion with FlexArm X-ray system, which is designed to optimize workflow and assist surgeons performing image guided procedures for heart and vascular diseases.
Hackensack University Medical Center is the third facility in the world and the second in the United States to install the FlexArm technology.
More information on FlexArm X-ray system
The FlexArm system is designed to help clinicians work efficiently by reducing preparation and procedure time, enabling more patients to be diagnosed and treated. Azurion provides high quality imaging, achieving excellent visibility at low X-ray dose levels for patients of all sizes.
Azurion with FlexArm’s innovative design enables exceptional flexibility and intuitive control. Powered by a unique smart kinematic engine, the system moves on eight different axes, all controlled with its single “Axsys” controller. Simulation tests with 17 clinicians have demonstrated the system’s potential to significantly reduce the repositioning of the patient, staff and equipment to improve access for minimally invasive procedures.
“The FlexArm moves around the operators, it’s not the operators moving around the equipment or moving the equipment,” said Carlos E. Ruiz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Structural and Congenital Heart Center at the Heart and Vascular Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center. “Essentially, I can park the equipment, then when I need it, move it back into position without moving the patient. It’s truly a unique system.”
Dr. Ruiz has been working with Philips to develop this technology for more than a decade. Azurion’s workflow innovations paired with flexible positioning of FlexArm will help clinicians treat patients efficiently and provide superior care.
“A high quality X-ray imaging system can provide critical support during hybrid surgery and endovascular procedures in the same room,” said Dr. Ruiz. “Azurion with FlexArm allows our physicians to complete a variety of surgical and interventional procedures faster, meaning the patient is off the table and on their way to recovery and discharge much sooner.”
New recovery area
Along with the construction of the Hybrid OR, a new recovery area in the Post Anesthesia Cardiac Unit was also created and includes two ICU beds, which are fully equipped and located just steps from the Hybrid OR.
