In this issue:
- Spine Surgery Multidisciplinary Team Minimizes Compications
- Hybrid Andiography OR Suite Supports AVM Procedures
- New Brain Recovery Education Clinic Launched
Advanced Planning Makes Spine Surgery Safer
Minimizing risk and making spine surgery as safe as possible is the goal of the multidisciplinary spine surgery team at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland.
The team meets every month to review all upcoming spine surgery cases with the specialists who may be involved. As a result, there have been no infections or unplanned returns to the operating room on any of the cases reviewed over the past year.
The team has a core group consisting of subspecialists from the following disciplines:
- Orthopaedic spine surgery
- Pediatric intensive care
- Anesthesiology
Other relevant subspecialists are included in this review meeting, so that care for each patient is tailored to the patient’s unique needs prior to surgery.
Recent technological support includes the acquisition of an intraoperative navigation system, which improves surgical safety and accuracy. This furthers the team’s goal of combining high tech with high touch in spine surgery.
For more information, call (877) UC-CHILD or (877) 822-4453, or contact Ishaan Swarup, MD, at ishaan.swarup@ucsf.edu.
Hybrid Angiography OR Enables Higher Level of Care, Reduced Risk
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals’ neurosurgeons have access to a state-of-the-art hybrid angiography operating room (OR) suite to obtain high-quality angiograms in real time. This allows them to assess the brain’s blood flow and make any needed adjustments during surgery.
In this video, pediatric neurosurgeon Jarod Roland, MD, explains the treatment of a pediatric arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in a hybrid angiography OR suite. As a leader in vascular surgery, the neurosurgery program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals sees a high number of similar AVM cases that might be considered inoperable elsewhere.
In addition to the high-quality biplane angiography machine, the suite includes a full complement of angiographic tools and an operating table. The result is a higher level of care with fewer procedures needed and decreased risk to the patient.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (877) UC-CHILD or (877) 822?4453, or contact Dr. Roland at jarod.roland@ucsf.edu.
New Brain Recovery Education Clinic Launched
More than 6,000 children in California are hospitalized each year for traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke. The new Brain Recovery Education (BREd) clinic addresses the overlapping medical, mental health and educational needs in this population.
The goal of the BREd clinic is to support neuro recovery and the return to school for patients with an abnormal scan after a TBI. The program helps families do the following:
- Understand the injury and recovery pathway
- Access available community support resources
- Navigate special education opportunities for students with disabilities, through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a Section 504 plan
For more information or to make a referral, call (877) UC-CHILD or (877) 822-4453, or contact Bethany Johnson-Kerner, MD, PhD, at bethany.kerner@ucsf.edu.
