UCLA Equips Its New Medical Center Operating Rooms with Multi-Window Display Technology
When the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center embarked upon the construction of a new hospital, one goal was to incorporate the latest visual communication technologies. The hospital's Neurosurgery Department was targeted for this state-of-the-art technology integration. The UCLA Medical Center selected Karl Storz Endoscopy America to provide the department's endoscopy systems and audio video equipment for the project.
According to Roderick Plummer, A/V Systems Integration Manager for Karl Storz Endoscopy America, "During neurological surgery, the surgical team must have access to a variety of surgery visuals, patient vitals data, and historical medical information of the patient. These visuals and information have been decentralized. Different members of the surgical team had access to different visuals and data, requiring surgical team members to constantly inquire and communicate this information between them. In complex, intricate neurological surgery, time is critical. The objective was to centralize all of the operating room visuals and data so the entire surgical team had comprehensive, immediate access to them, significantly increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the surgery."
Plummer added, "The challenges involved supporting a number of different signal sources, limited space, and the requirement for displaying high resolution imagery. After extensive research, we designed a system for the neurology operating room using RGB Spectrum's QuadView multiple window display processor with two flat panel screens. The QuadView receives live video feeds from an endoscopic camera inserted into the patient during surgery, a wall-mounted operating room camera, and a camera placed inside the main surgery room light fixture. The QuadView also integrates computer-generated inputs comprised of patient radiology images from the hospital's Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), real-time patient vital signs displaying patient heart rate, blood pressure, blood gas levels, oxygenation measurement of the blood going to the patient's brain from the profusionist's patient monitor, EEG electroencephalogragh data depicting numerical values for cerebral activity, patient medical history, and lab results.
The QuadView processor combines these signals and outputs them to a distribution amplifier which feeds an 18" LCD display suspended on a mechanical boom above the operating table and a wall-mounted Sony 50" plasma display. Surgical personnel use a pre-programmed AMX touch screen controller to operate the display system, selecting signal sources, routing images to the QuadView processor, and choosing display configurations. The surgical team can view any of the inputs in four window quad mode or full screen.
Plummer concluded, "QuadView was the ideal solution for the hospital. It supports the variety of signals required and displays up to four of these at a time on the operating room displays with exceptional clarity and quality. The QuadView's feature set allowed me to meet the expressed functional desires of different surgical specialties such as neurosurgery or urology.
The QuadView XL is the first of a new generation of windowing systems. With the most powerful image processing available and outstanding image quality, plus new features such as web-based control, dynamic window sizing, borders, titling, and smooth zoom/pans functions. The QuadView XL is ideal solution for any application requiring the display of multiple images on a monitor or projector. The QuadView XL accepts high resolution RGB, HDTV, S-Video, component, and NTSC/PAL composite video, and optional DVI inputs. Up to sixteen sources can be connected; four of which can be displayed simultaneously.
Karl Storz Endoscopy is a worldwide organization that manufactures high quality instruments and medical devices to support minimally invasive surgical techniques in addition to consulting, design, and installation of audio-visual technology in surgical operating room environments. Karl Storz Endoscopy America is based in Culver City, California and can be reached at 310-338-8100 and on the internet at www.ksea.com. Roderick Plummer is AV Systems Integration Manager for Karl Storz Endoscopy America and has been involved with integration design for Karl Storz since 1999.
The UCLA Medical Center has been awarded "the Best Hospital in the West" for the 15th consecutive year. For more information on the Center, visit www.ucla.edu.
RGB Spectrum is a leading designer and manufacturer of videographic and multimedia hardware subsystems. Products include the View™ family of video windowing systems, the RGB/Videolink® line of scan converters, the DGx™ digital recording system, Quadra® universal scaler and synchronizer, SynchroMaster® keyers and overlayers and SuperWall™, ComputerWall® and MediaWall® multi-screen display controllers. RGB Spectrum is based in Alameda, California, and can be reached at 510-814-7000 or contact us online.
RGB Spectrum is a leading designer and manufacturer of mission-critical, real-time audio-visual solutions for a civilian, government, and military client base. The company offers integrated hardware, software, and control systems to satisfy the most demanding requirements. Since 1987, RGB Spectrum has been dedicated to helping its customers achieve Better Decisions. Faster.™
