Hospital News

2005 Press Releases

Innovative Video Link At Monmouth Medical Center Gives To Real Time Collaboration During Surgery.

LONG BRANCH, NJ, June 29, 2005 — A patient is undergoing an operation to remove a tumor. The surgeon, radiologist and pathologist all can see the patient clearly and consult about the best course of action as the surgery progresses.

While this scenario sounds like it is from either a science fiction movie or a crowded operating room, it’s actually the unique “telemedicine” hookup at Monmouth Medical Center that makes timely collaboration among specialists easier than ever before.

“Monmouth Medical Center is the only hospital I know of in which the operating rooms are connected via audio and video to the Pathology and Radiology departments, as well as the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, auditorium, Department of Surgery office and the Internet,” says Michael A. Goldfarb, M.D., FACS, chairman and residency program director of the Department of Surgery. “Other hospitals have similar hookups between two departments, but Monmouth is the first to link all these crucial areas of the hospital.”

This new “360-degree concept” of the operating room is an initiative that Dr. Goldfarb instituted in four Monmouth ORs, which were equipped with built-in flat-screen monitors and pull-down accessory modules to accommodate any type of surgery that uses a television screen. Monmouth Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, is one of the leading minimally invasive surgery centers in the nation, performing more than 3,000 such cases annually.

In addition to the various connections within the hospital, Dr. Goldfarb notes he is able to connect to the entire system from his home — connectivity that soon will be expanded to other Monmouth surgeons. “I have already done 12 remote intraoperative real-time webcast consultations with successful outcomes,” he adds.

These high-resolution flat-screen monitors allow microscopic views and X-ray images to be seen simultaneously by the surgeon, pathologist and radiologist. As a result, the pathologist can better determine the exact location and margins of tissue that the surgeon will biopsy or remove. Also, the radiologist and surgeon can share and compare X-ray images immediately.

Monmouth hematopathologist Plamen Kossev, M.D., explains that a high-quality digital image of a microscopic slide can be sent as an immediate frozen section from the hospital’s Laboratory to the OR either directly or via the Internet.

“The pathologist is able to see, in real time, the tissue a surgeon will biopsy or want to remove, and, because of the interconnection, the surgeon in the OR also can see the tissue the pathologist is examining,” he says.

Adds Dr. Goldfarb: “The surgeon can even see frozen section slides used by pathologists to evaluate benign or malignant samples — offering the closest possible line of communication with our pathologists in the most rapid and complete fashion. This team approach in the operating room will improve and expedite care.”

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