Posted on 03/10/2008 6:47:42 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
U.S. surgeon to use GPS in surgeries
www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-10 05:25:48 Print
LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A Los Angeles surgeon will show 30 visiting orthopedic surgeons from China how he uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to guide him as he replaces knees, hips or leg bones in patients, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.
; "The doctor (Lawrence Menendez) uses the satellites to precisely measure legs and make sure they are even," said spokeswoman Sandra Levy at the Medical Center of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Dr. Menendez delivered a speech on the new technique last year in China, and invited the surgeons to stop here to see the pioneering work demonstrated as they travel to an international conference later this week in San Francisco.
On Monday morning, a 29 year-old man with bone cancer will have his knee joint and eight inches of bone removed and replaced with a synthetic internal prosthesis. Following that, a 64 year-old woman will get a hip replacement.
In both cases, the Chinese doctors will observe how data from GPS satellites orbiting 12,600 miles (about 20,160 kilometers) above Los Angeles will help guide the doctor in his work, Levy said.
Still I wonder how accurate this would be. If this is effective, PLA field hospital would really benefit.
Ping!
Let me be the first to say that this makes no sense.
For locating the operating room or hospital?
If America's so "bad" why then are WE the ones always sharing the latest in technology and the country everyone is literally dying to get into????
Yeah....REAL terrible health care here /sarc!!!!
Our modern GPS systems are typically accurate down to one meter. /s
Civil GPS is accurate to within nine feet. Good luck, Doc.
Sure, if you don’t mind accuracy in the +/- 1 yard range. That’s probably within tolerance for a human leg, right? I can measure your leg with that much accuracy from here. It’s 1 yard long, give or take a yard.
Indeed. The accuracy requirement here is millimeters or better, no? I call BS on the Doc.
Uh, no.
I work with data from gps sources that we need to be “highly reliable” - tolerance varies to between 5 and 7 feet depending on project.
Not exactly surgical quality.
The in thing now is to accurately measure the length and angles when doing knee replacements. I cannot understand how GPS would be more accurate than the computerized measurements in the hospitals, unless the GPS is an alternative option for Chinese doctors.
“Nurse, did you see my large forceps?”
“No doctor but the GPS receiver says it's in Mr Jones and he's right now heading west on San Bernardina Drive...”
They have to be using some type of differential processing of the signals from two or more receivers. They could also be averaging out errors over time much in the same way surveyors use the GPS signal. Its not that hard to get centimeter or even millimeter level accuracy. But then again the article doesn’t describe the processing techniques.
HE'S PULLING THEIR LEGS, PEOPLE. SHEESH.
“Turn around...........”
Either the doctor has some revolutionary technology or a reporter or an interpreter screwed up royally.:-)
They can’t measure distances that small inside an operating room.
What they do is get an extremely accurate survey of the coordinates of the operating room table, and mark the sheet with a small X.
Then they put the patient’s hip socket over that calibrated X. Then they put a piece of reflective foil on the big toe.
Then they get a guy out in the parking lot with a very accurate GPS and paint an X at that spot, with a clear view through a window to the operating room table and the piece of reflective foil on the toe.
He uses a laser rangefinder to measure the distance to the big toe very accurately and records it. He then takes a break while they operate.
The surgeon then cuts off the leg, puts in the new parts, and partially reassembles them. He then calls the guy on break to go back to the parking lot.
That guy gets back on the spot, takes another measurement of the toe on the reassembled leg and then works with the surgeon to move the toe back to the original position, making an exact match of the length.
The surgeon finishes up and submits his bill.
If you read this far you qualify for employment as President Obama’s Science Advisor or Surgeon General.
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