Neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Park Discusses New O-Arm Surgical Imaging System

A new piece of medical technology at Mercy Medical Center is changing patients' lives and helping surgeons get a clearer picture.

Margaret Dreyer had back and leg pain for years. When she was referred to neurosurgeon Charles C. Park, M.D., Ph.D., Director of The Minimally Invasive Brain and Spine Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, she found her solution.

"I can dance now, and I haven’t been able to do that in years, so I can like, move, and I couldn’t do any of that before I had the surgery," Dreyer said.

The Medtronic O-arm Mobile Surgical Imaging System is new to Mercy; according to Dr. Park, it gives him a clearer picture of a patient's internal anatomy.

"Knowing where the implants go and targeting exactly where they need to go, even before we make any cuts, makes a whole difference," Dr. Park said.

The new technology gives Park sight even through bone.

"Think about it, with skin all around it, you’re trying to put screws into this, right? How do we do this? Usually, we do it just using X-ray to see where we go. That’s a 2-dimensional image, right? But now, think about this, you’re looking at the spine in a translucent way," Dr. Park said.

Dr. Park uses the 3D X-ray machine mostly for brain and spinal surgeries.

"Before, when we did an open surgery, we had to do a really big incision, strip all the muscles from the spine and so forth, and they have a longer recovery time, a lot more pain involved," he said.

Now, it’s all done through a small incision.

To view Mercy neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Park’s interview about the new O-Arm medical technology, click here.