Recently, Dr. Paul McAfee and Dr. Ira Fedder, along with staff from Orthopaedic
Associates and St. Joseph Medical Center accomplished two amazing feats that are
worth noting.
First: Dr. McAfee was asked to assist a New Zealand surgical team via
satellite. Below are pictures of Dr. McAfee as a "virtual assistant" for an
operation in New Zealand performed in a mobile surgical van.
The procedure was
an SB charite disk replacement. A studio was set up in a hotel room in
Washington DC and Dr. McAfee, was able to assist via satellite . The event was
part of a medical conference in New Zealand. According to Dr. McAfee, the
procedure and event went well.
Second:
To view the surgery please click onthis link.
You can watch the entire surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center as
viewed from the International Congress -- The Emerging Technologies
Meeting in Washington. This is the only surgery thus far
recognized on the Scoliosis Research Society Website. This is the most
prestigious Spinal Society in the world.
Dr. McAfee and Dr. Fedder with the help of a team from OA, and St. Joseph
Medical Center performed the first telesurgery of the Charite Lumbar Disk
Replacement surgery in the United States.
The procedure is
expected to be approved by the FDA later this month. Physicians
attending an emerging tecnologies meeting in Washington DC were able to
view the surgery and ask questions. According the Dr. McAfee and
Dr. Fedder, "The surgical procedures went extremely well and the patients are
recovering in brilliant fashion. The nursing staff, as always, did an
unbelievably great job."
"These
pictures should convey the magnitude of the effort put forth to allow
great surgical teaching yet still provide un-equalled compassionate
care," said Dr. McAfee.
