Technologies

Market Summary

Surgical procedures continue to become more specialized and require more specialized operating room tables. Specialized operating tables allow surgeons to safely perform surgeries that require specific patient positioning. The operating room tables used for spinal surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars. These specialized tables allow the patient's gut to hang to alleviate pressure on the spine, maintain proper spinal alignment, and stabilize the patient. Unfortunately, many developing countries lack the appropriate OR table or resources to purchase the tables and, as a result, patients can lie in bed for many months in need of surgery.

Technical Summary

Researchers and surgeons at Emory University have built a specialized spinal frame for surgery in resource limited settings. This spinal frame can be placed on top of available standard operating tables and is able to replace a fully devoted spinal table in settings where a spinal operating room table is not accessible. This "table-top" operating frame maintains crucial design elements of a fully devoted spine table, such as allowing the patient’s gut to hang in order to reduce compression on the vena cava, maintaining appropriate spinal alignment during the procedure, and stabilizing the patient. The spinal frame can be adjusted to a wide range of patient sizes and broken down into components that fit into a suitcase sized case. This medical device is a low cost solution for resource limited settings, including developing countries, in need of spinal surgery operating tables.