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 on this link. You can watch the entire surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center as viewed from the International Congress — The Emerging TechnologiesMeeting 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.
