Discovery

OSUMC Partners for Virtual Surgery

The Ohio State University Medical Center has teamed up with Edheads,a nonprofit educational Web development company based in Hilliard, Ohio, to create an interactive, virtual surgery experience featuring deep brain stimulation (DBS). These Web-based experiences assist teachers in making hard-to-teach concepts understandable, and promote interest in health sciences careers.

DBS is a surgical procedure in which electrical pulses are delivered directly to brain tissue that controls movement. It often dramatically reduces tremors or problems of rigidity in patients with Parkinson’s disease by interrupting signals that cause those symptoms.

During the animated virtual DBS activity, users can observe and perform virtual DBS surgery. Once the procedure begins, users are guided through each step of the process and can select and use tools and surgical instrumentation to perform the surgery. Atom Sarkar, MD, PhD, in Ohio State’s Department of Neurological Surgery, is also featured on the site.

The activity is free and available to anyone at www.edheads.org.

Medical Center Program Addresses Psychological Trauma

A newly created psychological trauma program at The Ohio State University Medical Center addresses the needs of those suffering from untreated emotional trauma. It’s called the Stress, Trauma and Resilience Program.

“The current economy is a factor influencing potential traumatic situations,” says Radu Saveanu, MD, chair of Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and executive director of OSU Harding Hospital. “Very few programs like this exist in the Midwest. We want to improve the quality of life for affected individuals.”

OSUMC Opens Innovative Surgical Suite

The Ohio State University Medical Center recently opened a new surgical suite equipped with advanced imaging technology and sophisticated medical machinery used to diagnose and treat brain and spinal cord injuries.

The operating suite requires less movement of the patient and is capable of three-dimensional angiography, computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging guidance.

The operating suite, one of only a few of its kind in the world, is capable of handling open aneurysm operation procedures; arterio-venous malformation repair; brain abnormalities, angioplasty or stent replacement; tumor embolization and presurgical cerebrospinal angiography.

Ohio State’s Burn Team Honored at National Conference

Several members of Ohio State’s Burn Center assumed national leadership roles at the 2009 meeting of the American Burn Association (ABA).

Sidney Miller, MD, director of Ohio State’s Burn Center, was elected president-elect of the ABA and will assume the presidency at the 2010 conference. Becky Coffey, RN, CNP, serves on the association’s Prevention Committee, and Sherman Everett, the Burn Center’s chaplain, is a Program and Ethics Committee member.

Jeff Eakin, MD, a surgical resident, presented “Comparison Outcomes for Burn Patients Cared for in Trauma Centers Based on Two National Registries” at the meeting.

Ohio State Pioneers Single-Incision Robotic Kidney Surgery

With just a single two-inch incision in the patient’s abdomen, urologic surgeon Ronney Abaza, MD, director of Robotic Urologic Surgery at The Ohio State University Medical Center, is able to perform a robotic-assisted surgery to remove a cancerous kidney. Only a handful of medical centers nationwide perform such minimally invasive, single-port, robotic-assisted surgeries, and Abaza, who treats patients at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, is the first in central Ohio to perform the procedure.

Minimally invasive surgery techniques benefit patients by causing less blood loss, less pain and shorter hospital stays and recovery times than other surgeries.

During robotic-assisted operations, the surgeon manipulates the robot’s arms from a nearby console, looking through a viewfinder at magnified images transmitted from inside the patient’s abdomen.

Doctors Treat Newborn With Umbilical Cord Still Intact

During a rare operation at The Ohio State University Medical Center, specialists treated an infant still attached to the umbilical cord to guard against the effects of a large cyst pressing on the baby’s airway.

The Medical Center is one of few facilities in the nation offering the procedure, known as EXIT (Ex-Utero Intrapartum Treatment).

With the help of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, Richard O’Shaughnessy, MD, director of the Fetal Treatment Program at Ohio State, can detect conditions such as a growing mass on the neck or lungs of a developing baby that can push the airway out of alignment, or a large tumor or cyst that might interfere with the ability of a baby to breathe immediately after birth.

“In a case requiring the EXIT procedure, it would be dangerous if we cut the umbilical cord, which serves as the baby’s lifeline,” says O’Shaughnessy. “We want to maintain the baby’s attachment to the mother until we’re certain the baby can receive oxygen through an unobstructed airway.”

Marsh Named to Top Research Post at OSU Medical Center

Clay Marsh, MD, an internationally respected Ohio State University physician, scientist and educator, has been named senior associate vice president for Research in the Office of Health Sciences, vice dean for research in the College of Medicine and executive director of the Ohio State Center for Personalized Health Care.

In this role, Marsh leads Ohio State Medical Center’s research enterprise, one of the largest in the nation, and is responsible for advancing its growing reputation as an international leader in personalized health care, a field that uses genetic information to develop tailored medical treatments.

Marsh, a widely published expert on mononuclear phagocyte-induced inflammation, was previously director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and vice chair for Research in Ohio State’s Department of Internal Medicine for nine years. He is associate editor of the Journal of Investigative Medicine and The American Journal of Physiology. Marsh joined the Ohio State faculty in 1993.

Ohio State Researchers Invent First MRI Treadmill

A team of Ohio State researchers has created an MRI-compatible hydraulic treadmill with non-magnetic stainless steel and aluminum.
Prior to this invention, MRI machines and treadmills could not be located in the same room because the strong magnetic field produced by the MRI interfered with the treadmill’s metal parts.

The invention allows doctors to take MRI images of the heart in the same room immediately following treadmill exercise, says Orlando Simonetti, PhD, leader of the team and associate professor of Internal Medicine and Radiology at Ohio State.

He says preliminary test results from the invention show that it will enable physicians to give a more accurate diagnosis of heart disease because the delay of moving patients from one room to another is eliminated.

Also on the research team that developed the treadmill were cardiologist Subha Raman, MD, assistant professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, and John Arnold, PhD, professor of Engineering.

Ohio State Hospitals Receive Magnet Nursing Redesignation

The Ohio State University Medical Center’s University Hospital and Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital have achieved Magnet redesignation status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Magnet designation recognizes the nation’s best hospitals for nursing excellence, with achievements in research, education and clinical practice. In 2005, University Hospital and the Ross Heart Hospital became the first Magnet hospitals in central Ohio.

“Magnet status helps attract and keep the best and brightest nurses to the OSU Medical Center, where their skills and abilities are highly valued and respected,” says Mary Nash, RN, PhD, FAAN, chief nursing executive at Ohio State.

Only 4 percent of the nation’s hospitals have achieved Magnet status, and an even smaller number – 2 percent – are redesignated.

This section was compiled by Justin Hoffman