LessRay Radiation Reduction System for ORs Using Fluoroscopes
NuVasive, a company based in San Diego, California, is now making available its LessRay radiation dose-reduction system. It consists of a computer cart that connects to an operating room’s fluoroscopy system. The fluoroscope can be set to a lower level of X-ray exposure, and the LessRay, using its proprietary software algorithms, then corrects the image to achieve a quality that would have been produced using a standard exposure. The system is expected to be used particularly during minimally invasive spinal surgical procedures, but should also be applicable in other applications when repeat exposures are required (ERCPs, central lines, etc).
The firm believes that it is the clinicians that will benefit the most from its technology, as people working around fluoroscopes can be irradiated on a nearly daily basis repeatedly, being exposed to levels far beyond that of the general population. According to NuVasive, in a recent study, the exposure was reduced by “between 62 percent and 84 percent …in the LessRay group compared to the conventional fluoroscopy group.”