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With the advancements in computer and engineering technologies, Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS) has been widely applied in different surgical subspecialties in the past decade. The Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has been pioneering different CAS techniques in clinical management and various surgical specialties for improving patient care. The Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology and the Department of Surgery have been actively implementing various innovative ideas and concepts in CAS research and development since 2000.
To enable the public to learn more about the latest research achievements and developments in the local medical field, a brand new exhibition entitled "Technologies Enhancing Patient Care" will be held by the Hong Kong Science Museum at its Science News Corner from today (September 10) until March 31, 2012. The exhibition, with content provided by CUHK, introduces CUHK's medical achievements and topics including SMARTWARD, application of computer navigation technology in surgery, minimally invasive surgery, remote health monitoring and non-invasive health monitoring.
SMARTWARD is a novel system that integrates IT and special hardware devices to improve the quality of medical care in wards. It comprises a newly developed Net-based software system, mobile computing platforms and newly developed and modified biosensors.
The application of the computer navigation technique is helpful in preventing complications after surgery. For example, injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are among the most commonly encountered sports injuries in orthopaedic practice. A lot of surgeons perform anatomical double bundle reconstructions for patients with ACL injury, so as to improve rotational stability. However, there are more and more papers reporting clinical results that bring out problems such as posterior blowout and anterior impingement. The application of the computer navigation technique has the benefit of allowing precise planning of the tunnel position before drilling in performing double bundle ACL reconstructions, so as to prevent complications.
Minimally invasive surgery holds a lot of advantages, like minimising the loss of blood and hence reducing the need for transfusion and lowering the risk of potential complications. The recovery period of patient also hastens with less complications. The daVinci robotic-assisted surgery system is one of the examples. The advantages of such machines are their patented Endowrist with six-degree movement, greater flexibility of fine movement and the three-dimensional magnified view of dual-channel endoscopy. Surgery can therefore be performed in a more precise way, and there are also ergonomic advantages for surgeons. These features are so important that patients' surgical outcomes are improved.
Because of the increasingly ageing population, the prevalence of chronic diseases and higher health-care expectations, there is a pressing need for CUHK to shift the conventional hospital-centred medical model toward a p-Health paradigm, such as the 6-P model. The 6-P model emphasises the adoption of personalised diagnosis and treatment, participatory decision-making and pervasive health services and technologies for preventive health services and technologies. This allows for the prevention of diseases via predicting how, when and in whom a disease will be developed and subsequently applying pre-emptive treatments before health problems occur.
The Hong Kong Science Museum is located at 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East. It opens from 1pm to 9pm from Monday to Wednesday and on Fridays, and from 10am to 9pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. It is closed on Thursdays (except public holidays). Admission is $25 with half-price concessions for full-time students, people with disabilities and senior citizens aged 60 or above. Admission is free on Wednesdays.
For details of the exhibition and related programmes, visit the webpage on the Science Museum's website at hk.science.museum/ese/esnc.php. For enquiries, please call 2732 3232.
Ends/Saturday, September 10, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:31
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