Baar,25.08.2016

One of the most modern operating theatres in the country now up and running

At the end of June a new 3-D-high-end operating theatre was installed at the Cantonal Hospital in Baar, making it one of the most modern operating theatres in the country.
 
“This new technology is a quantum leap forward,” said Christoph M. Honegger (on the right in the photograph), the senior physician at the gynaecological unit. His colleague, Michael Zünd (on the left), the senior physician at the surgical unit, explained the difference by comparing it to the progress made with televisions in recent years. “Whereas years ago you would not have been able to make out a golf ball on the screen, nowadays you can see it perfectly well in flight. This is very similar to the difference between a 2-D and a 3-D operating theatre. With this latest technology, the definition and colours are so much better.”
 
The new operating theatre is routinely used for gynaecological and laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. Honegger went on to say how the new equipment meant suturing was so much easier. “We can do it all so much more quickly and precisely,” he said. “And in particular when it comes to carrying out this procedure on the stomach,” added Zünd.
 
The new facility means that not just the aforementioned procedures but also operations to remove tumours and correct prolapses are able to be performed more quickly and to greater precision than before. For example hystero and esophagogastroduodeno endoscopies can now be performed at the same time. The surgeons’ job is made so much easier, not least with the perfect light provided as they perform operations via monitor.
 
Naturally all this new technology comes at a price, with this new theatre having cost some CHF 900,000, with two further rooms also planned to be equipped at a cost of between CHF 550,000 and CHF 600,000 each.
 
As Zünd pointed out, when the Cantonal Hospital was built between eight and ten years ago, such 3D equipment was not available. Waiting to have it installed until now has meant that not only is it better but cheaper, too.