A retired nurse who spent most of her nursing career in operating rooms including those at Peace Arch Hospital is the first patient in B.C. 乌鸦传媒� and likely Western Canada 乌鸦传媒� to receive a new hip with the aid of a robotic-arm assisted surgical system.
Maureen Coutts underwent the procedure on April 24 at Burnaby Hospital. Just over one month post-surgery, she says she is still in awe of how far health care has come since she first walked into an operating room.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檝e seen so much innovation over the years that helps patients,乌鸦传媒� the 71-year-old said in a June 3 news release.
乌鸦传媒淚 just never imagined I would be the recipient of it.乌鸦传媒�
Dr. Tim Kostamo 乌鸦传媒� division head of orthopedics at Burnaby Hospital 乌鸦传媒� performed the procedure with the help of the donor-funded $2.3-million Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted System, which arrived at the hospital a year ago. He said Coutts being its first total-hip replacement patient 乌鸦传媒� it has assisted on 100-plus knee replacements to date 乌鸦传媒� was "really a beautiful moment" that honoured her legacy as a nurse.
"I was really happy that we could choose someone who's interested in technology and has seen the progression, so I thought that was super-cool to have Maureen as a retired OR nurse to be the first one," Kostamo told Peace Arch News.
"It just felt like a celebration."
Coutts spent some four decades in operating rooms 乌鸦传媒� with the longest of those stretches at Delta Hospital 乌鸦传媒� as well as an additional four in general nursing, before retiring in 2018.
She had been suffering with hip pain for more than four years prior to her surgery but now is looking forward to cane-free long walks and park outings with her granddaughter this summer.
Recovery "usually takes about six weeks," said Kostamo, noting Coutts is "doing pretty well."
He described the integration of such technology into surgery as "a big leap forward," but noted it does not, yet, speed up the replacement procedure.
"You get better planning and better precision, and the surgery right now is about 10 minutes slower," he said, explaining that while he spent 16 years honing how to do the surgery when it was "basically me, the patient and the tools," he's only been honing the robot-assisted process for a year.
"It takes a long time to hone the smoothness," he said. "It's kind of like getting a nice dance partner, you're kind of learning each other's moves."
Prior to Coutts's procedure, CT imaging enabled the creation of a 3D image of her joint, which allowed the surgical team to make a customized plan for it based on her anatomy, for a better match with the implant. During the surgery, Kostamo guided the arm, adjusting as necessary based on visual and audio cues from its software.
Kostamo said he is "not a techie per se" 乌鸦传媒� he doesn't wear an Apple watch, and describes his own computer as "old." But, when it comes to ultimately bettering the lives of patients, "I am very much pro anything," he said.
"I think in this area, bringing in the tech to improve the planning and precision, I think it's the way of the future."
