New technology makes surgery easier

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - New technology that can be used for everything from spinal, cardiac, reconstructive surgery, and even neurosurgery, has helped give a young child a promising future.

It’s a walk down the hall for 5-year-old Raven’s weekly occupational therapy. And one of her activities is using her left hand, to make cookies.

It all started after Raven’s parent’s noticed weakness and a lack of mobility in her left side. She was sent to a neurologist, who ordered an MRI. A golf ball sized tumor was found pressing on the right side of her brain.

“It was just like a complete shock, like deer in headlights and I was like, ‘What?’” explained Jamie Mariol, Raven’s mother.

Within 24 hours, Raven was undergoing brain surgery at Akron Children’s Hospital.

“I was very nervous and like not knowing what was gonna happen,” stated Mariol.

Doctors removed the benign tumor and the job was easier thanks to the use of an exoscope. It’s a high-def video telescope, where doctors wear 3D glasses and look at large screens, instead of looking through heavy magnifying glasses, with a light on top.

“The beauty of that technology is that you are not then confined to standing or sitting in certain positions in the operating room for hours at a time,” said Tsulee Chen, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Akron Children’s Hospital.

Raven will continue to learn to regain strength on her left side and hopefully have fun, while she’s doing it.

An exoscope costs $400,000 dollars, about $150,000 dollars more than the latest, traditional microscopes used for surgery. Akron children’s is the only independent children’s hospital in the country to use one.

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