Every year, millions of patients undergo lifesaving surgeries.
The outcome of each procedure is driven by dynamic factors such as patient’s health, drugs and instruments, team communication, and surgeon’s wisdom.
The University of California in San Diego, through its School of Medicine has unveiled the Center for the Future of Surgery, the largest state-of-the art facility in the nation dedicated to catalyzing novel surgical technologies, techniques and teaching methods.
“The Center for the Future of Surgery is developing revolutionary surgical techniques that will change the way surgery is performed in the next decade.” – Santiago Horgan MD CFoS director.
“Teaching these techniques is core to our mission along with developing the tools needed to perform next-generation procedures. As a global training center, our ultimate goal is to develop safe methods that will result in better outcomes, less pain and faster recoveries for every patient.”
The CFoS is the most comprehensive facility to date designed for multi-specialty training of medical students and faculty.
From minimally to maximally invasive techniques, surgeons can access the newest operating platforms, training consoles and operating microscopes. The 22 training stations are located within 11,440 square feet of space and house the newest tools and cameras, representing $ 30 million in equipment.
“The Center for the Future of Surgery is part of the wheel of innovation at UC San Diego.” – Mark Talamini MD professor
A hands-on think tank, the Center CFoS also boasts of an “007 Room” where surgeons can test tool prototypes with the goals of making smaller incisions, decreasing anesthesia time, and assuring improved quality of life.
The CFoS relies heavily on simulation to train surgeons and nurses. Human-like robots test a variety of situations from cardiac arrest in pediatric patients to subdural hematoma from traumatic injury. Each learning experience can be recorded and broadcast to other learning institutions.
Surgeons from around the world are invited to CFoS to learn about natural orifice translumnenal endoscopic surgery, a form of scarless surgery pioneered by Horgan and Talamini in 2007. Horgan and Talamini and their surgical team were the first in the United States to remove a man’s appendix through his mouth. A series of groundbreaking clinical trial surgeries followed that have transformed everyday operations for gallbladder and appendix removal as well as treatments for obesity and esophageal disease.
