Neurosurgery has become safer

Text: Marina Fedorova

Building 21 of Botkin Clinical Hospital, the famous medical center’s neuropathological surgery department, has opened its doors again after a complete renovation. The remodeling has made it possible to perform minimal intervention surgical procedures and offer patients more advanced and convenient treatment options.

The management plans to continue modernizing Botkin Hospital

The facility houses a modern in-patient ward for 124 beds plus 9 neurological ICU beds. High-comfort rooms feature air cooling systems, bedside control panels, and WCs. As the Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin pointed out during the opening ceremony, once the entire hospital is renovated, it will become the most modernized one in Moscow, in addition to already being the largest.

“The memories of what the center  looked like before the renovation are still fresh. One room might have accommodated five patients while now it’s never more than three. But what matters even more than comfort is the equipment in the operating rooms,” said the Mayor.

Of particular interest is the new neurosurgical navigation system. According  to MedImport project manager Liliya Reimbaeva, it constitutes one of the most advanced technologies in the field of brain and spine surgery, ENT surgery, traumatology, and orthopedics. The system enables the surgeon to calculate the least traumatic way to the tumor, often located in the difficult to access parts of the brain or spinal cord. All the details of the surgery are recreated and displayed on large monitors, allowing the surgeon to see the exact location of the instrument and view the tumor or aneurysm together with the parts of the brain it affects – areas responsible for hands or feet movement, speech centers, etc. Combining these data with previously obtained CT scans, the system helps to precisely calculate the surgeon’s manipulations during the operation.

The newly renovated building has already opened for patients

In the past, these complex movements used to be performed only by means of craniotomy, and the hospital stay therefore used to last about three weeks. Now, post-operational patients will be able to return home within 3−5 days, thanks to the advanced equipment that minimizes surgical invasion. At the same time, most sophisticated surgical procedures become more precise and effective, while patient risk and recovery period are reduced.

In addition to a powerful microscope and the neuronavigation system, the operating room is also equipped with modern telecommunications devices. The operating lights have built-in video cameras, and the microscope — cameras and an audio system. The technology makes it easy to train new surgeons and enables operating personnel  to consult with leading experts around the world in real time. The new operating unit, according to Botkin Hospital’s Head Physician Alexey Shabunin, allows to perform more than a thousand procedures per year.

The renovated building also houses an integrated vascular center, where heart disease patients receive their treatment. The reconstruction plans specifically provided for moving the center’s many units, previously scattered throughout the hospital’s many buildings, to a single location at the neurosurgery ward. Placing all related services in one spot will help provide better medical care to patients with stroke. In the past, Dr. Shabunin reveals, hemorrhagic stroke almost certainly meant disability for 50% of the patients. Thanks to modern equipment, today this risk has decreased by at least 20%, and the maximum possible number of patients with this diagnosis getting treatment has increased from 1,100 to 2,000 persons annually.

The new neurosurgical navigation system

13 November 2016

Pharmaceutical perspectives

The UNIDENT Group enters the pharmaceutical supply market and strikes partnership deals with the world’s leading medicine manufacturers and suppliers. Exploring the new line of business, the group has also launched its own pharmacy chains.

6 November 2016

To “Kollektsia!”

Art Patrons Iveta and Tamaz Manasherov Participate in a Pompidou Center’s Project. The collection of Russian art in the P ompidou Center is well-known internationally and includes works by Kandinsky and Malevich, Chagall and Pevzner, Puni and Exter, Bulatov and Kabakov — great names and seminal works all throughout … However, the exhibition entitled “Kollektsia!

18 October 2016

“Glavkosmetika”. Is our unique plant and a special reason to be proud

The opening of new production facilities in Russia, especially with an innovative component, is one of the main economic and political priorities in our country. Construction of a new plant is no trivial matter. This is a very time-consuming process that requires patience, courage, certain mental resolve and material capabilities, as well as confidence in the future and in the success of the business.

17 October 2016

The real benefit of virtual learning

A new specialized center for training and retraining of medical specialists has been opened in Moscow. The center provides opportunities for training and treatment of typical and rare diseases, different situational training exercises on virtual patients that will help improve the quality of medical care in general and reduce the number of medical errors.

16 October 2016

Without fear and beyond reproach

We all know kids must regularly see their dentist. And there is probably nothing scarier in the world than going to the dentist - that we know, too. We also know that today’s dental treatment is a totally painless procedure. Seriously, this is the 21st century! And still we fear going to a dental clinic, because we have this premonition that even if it’s going to be alright in terms of physical pain, it’s certainly going to hurt our wallet. Be as it may, kids must regularly see their dentist...