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Our "Sat Nav" for brain surgeons has arrived
'Sat nav' surgery appeal completed as drive to bring new 'film studio' equipment to Sick Kids begins
The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) has announced the successful completion of its landmark fundraising project to bring groundbreaking 'sat nav' brain surgery equipment to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children - as another major funding drive begins.
The recent campaign to raise £220,000 has been overwhelmingly supported by friends of the Foundation, businesses and the community in the local area and beyond, meaning that the cutting-edge Medtronic equipment - which enables surgeons to carry out vital neurosurgery on babies and infants - is being brought to the Sick Kids in November 2010.
It is estimated that the equipment will benefit more than 100 children each year at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, greatly improving the care of children with brain tumours, hydrocephalus, epilepsy and brain infections. The Medtronic system is only available in one other paediatric centre in the UK.
So successful was the drive to raise funds for the 'sat nav' equipment that SKFF is launching a new appeal to further enhance the operating facilities available to very small children and babies at the hospital.
An appeal for £100,000 to upgrade vital 'film studio' equipment - which will enable surgeons to carry out enhanced keyhole operations on children - is being launched.
Gordon MacKinlay, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, explains: "In January 2004 we installed a state-of-the-art integrated facility in one of our operating rooms, known as OR1. It was the first of its kind in a children's hospital in Europe and the first in any hospital in the UK.
"Most paediatric surgeons both in Europe and the United States still do most of their surgery through open incisions, which are not only painful but also disfiguring, and persist throughout life. Keyhole surgery is performed through tiny incisions three to five millimetres in length, using a telescope and miniature camera to display the procedure on screens. This results in our operating room being more like a film studio and the surgeon, assistants, nurses and anaesthetists can all observe the clear images.
"This facility was funded by SKFF and has enabled us to remain one of the leading centres in the world for this type of surgery in children. However, with technology progressing at an incredible rate, to remain at the cutting-edge of this type of procedure and offer our patients the safest surgery possible, we need to upgrade the OP1 equipment to use widescreen HD screens which provide a wider and clearer view of the operative field."
The new OR1 equipment will be transferable to the new hospital at Little France, meaning that patients will be able to benefit from enhanced surgery both before and after the move. It is hoped that the new OR1 equipment will be brought to the hospital in XXX and around XXX patients per year will be treated using it.
Maureen Harrison, Chief Executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: "The Royal Hospital for Sick Children has become an internationally renowned centre for keyhole surgery and, more importantly, the keyhole surgery equipment we have helped fund has ensured that many children from Edinburgh and across Scotland have received the very best possible care.
"It is important that we continue to offer children and their families the safest, most advanced surgical procedures that we can and the funds donated to this appeal - teamed with the surgeons' high level of skill and the excellent NHS facilities in the operating theatres - will enable us to do just that.
"We'd like to offer a huge thanks to everyone who helped us reach our fundraising goal for the Medtronic equipment and hope that people will be as generous for this new appeal."
Beau's Story
A seven-year-old boy has become the first child in Scotland to undergo brain surgery using groundbreaking 'sat nav' equipment purchased by the Sick kids Friends Foundation.
Beau Rendall, from Craigentinny in Edinburgh, became the first patient to undergo a brain operation using the Medronics equipment at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh on 3 November.
Beau has spina bifida, a birth defect which causes the incomplete development of the spinal cord, and hydrocephalus, which is a build up of spinal fluid in the brain and can sometimes be caused by spina bifida.
The groundbreaking surgery took place to repair a blocked valve in a tube inserted between Beau's brain and spine, which helps to drain away the build up of fluid.
It was the fifth time Beau has undergone the operation since he was born, but the first time using equipment with the capability for increased precision.
Beau, who uses a wheelchair, had his first operation when he was just one week old.
The cutting-edge Medtronic equipment - which enables surgeons to carry out vital neurosurgery on babies and infants - arrived at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in early November and has so far been used to carry out two operations.
The hospital is the first children's hospital in Scotland and only the second paediatric centre in the UK to receive the equipment. It is estimated that the equipment will benefit more than 100 children each year.
Beau's mum, Tracy Rendall, 43, said: "It is wonderful that Beau was the first patient to be able to benefit from this new piece of equipment. Giving surgeons increased visibility when they are operating is a tremendous step forward and I hope it will help hundreds more kids at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children".
"Beau came round from the operation quite quickly and he was in good spirits in the few days afterwards - laughing and joking with the staff on the ward."
Beau lives in Craigentinny with his mum Tracy, dad Stuart, 45, sisters Meg, 9, Jos, 5, and brother Fin, 8.
The Medtronics equipment will ensure patients receive the most up-to-date neurosurgery treatment and will greatly improve the care of children with brain tumours, hydrocephalus, epilepsy and brain infections.
The equipment uses image guidance technology to 'map' the patient's brain by combining MRI, CT and Fluoroscopy to give 3D images of the child's head.
The position of the surgeon's instruments can then be tracked against those images during operations.
The 'sat nav' kit allows this type of technology to be used on children without the need to fix pins into the head, making the procedure available to babies - whose skulls are too soft for the use of pins - for the first time.
Tracy, who runs a kitchen design and installation company called Rendall Kitchens with husband Stuart added: "Beau was born with a hole in his back and he spent the first two weeks of his life in hospital. He had his first operation when he was just one week old, and because babies heads are too soft to be pinned, operating when they are that young can be difficult. The surgeons did a fantastic job operating at the time, but if this technology had been available back then it would have been easier for the surgeons to operate on such a small baby."
The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) ran a fundraising drive over the last few months to raise the £220,000 needed to buy the equipment, with a campaign involving their supporters, businesses and the community in Edinburgh and throughout the East of Scotland.
Jerard Ross, Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, said: "This piece of equipment is a significant advance in neuro-surgical technology. It will help us manage patients, both new and old, who come to Sick Kids for help with a range of conditions, including hydrocephalus. It will keep us at the cutting edge of paediatric neurosurgery for some time to come."
Maureen Harrison, Chief Executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: "We were absolutely delighted to hear that the equipment has now begun to benefit children and of course we wish Beau a speedy recovery from his operation. He is the first of many children who will have operations combining the skill of the surgeons with this wonderful technology. We could not have bought the equipment without the tremendously generous donations from the public. On behalf of all those patients and their families thank you to everyone who donated to the SatNav Appeal and made this fantastic purchase possible."
