Helios Park-Hospital Leipzig: Nexaris stays on track for success
With the commissioning of the "Nexaris Angio CT" two years ago, the Helios site in Leipzig possessed a unique selling point throughout Germany. Only the interventional radiology department at Helios Park-Hospital Leipzig was able to offer this innovative technology for patient care. In the meantime, two other clinics nationwide can boast this state-of-the-art medical technology. In Leipzig, this technology has long since proven itself.
Without imagination, as the saying goes, there is no progress. The idea that angiography and computed tomography (CT) could be used together at one workstation to improve a wide variety of minimally invasive procedures seemed incredible even to many physicians for a long time. It was not until the commissioning of Germany's first Nexaris Angio CT at Helios Park-Hospital Leipzig in October 2020 that the certainty came. Today, after two years of intensive operation, PD Dr. Michael Moche, Head Physician of the Clinic for Interventional Radiology, draws an extremely positive conclusion.
A push of a button is all it takes for the technical innovation to fully unfold. Silently, a 1.5-ton sliding door with four millimeters of lead opens. Almost as if it had been waiting for this moment, a computer tomograph presents itself in the image that becomes free, ready to be fed to its next job on a rail line.
It is moments like these in which PD Dr. Michael Moche once again has the feeling that he is standing at what he considers to be the most beautiful workplace. "When Nexaris was launched, the media response was correspondingly great. After all, we were the only hospital site in Germany at the time that had something like this to offer," he looks back and adds "especially in the field of minimally invasive cancer therapy and vascular treatment, we are reaching a whole new level with angio-CT." But for many of the future employees of Interventional Radiology, it was also a leap in the dark. Each and every one of them therefore had to learn intensively.
Center founded
Today, according to PD Dr. Moche, the young team is well positioned, professionally competent and fit to master the challenges ahead. About 2,100 patients have been treated at the system so far. Nexaris Angio CT enables the treating physicians to simultaneously view images from an angiography system (X-ray fluoroscopy) as well as images from a computer tomograph during the minimally invasive procedure. The device is even able to combine both images into one picture. The view of the inside of the human being has thus been enormously expanded, explains head physician Moche. This state-of-the-art procedure room with operating room air for complex interventional therapy in the fields of oncology, vascular and visceral medicine, pain therapy and urology also makes it possible to combine open surgical procedures with minimally invasive measures in a meaningful way. Reason enough to expand the facet of feasibility accordingly in Leipzig. For this reason, a separate clinic for vascular surgery was founded at the hospital site a good year ago, headed by Dr. Holger Staab. The now also certified interdisciplinary minimally invasive therapy and vascular medicine now benefits considerably from the possibilities of using Nexaris also as a "hybrid" OR for such combined treatments.
High patient satisfaction
The interest of other hospitals in Nexaris Angio CT remains high. Thanks to an observation contract that Helios signed with the equipment manufacturer Siemens, customers from all over the world are finding their way to Park-Hospital. "In the meantime, the system has established itself throughout Germany. Nexaris is already working in Munich and Marburg, and the system is scheduled to go into operation in Magdeburg," says PD Dr. Moche.
But what is much more decisive for him is how this technical progress is received at his own hospital. Figures and surveys show that patient satisfaction is extremely high.
"There have even been cases where patients have specifically asked to be treated here by us,"says Chief Physician Moche.
The significant expansion of the treatment spectrum is probably one reason for this. In addition, people know that Nexaris and the team working with it can raise the chances of recovery to a new level.
Optimally applicable
Asked for his summary of the past two years, PD Dr. Moche also adds the successful division of space to the success story. "It has proven to be right to spatially separate CT and angiography. This makes it possible to use both devices efficiently and independently of each other, also to reduce waiting times for patients. If necessary, the two can be combined within a few moments by moving the sliding door to the side."
Nevertheless, chief physician Moche has a few wrinkles of concern on his forehead. Corona has shown how quickly a successful development can be slowed down. Especially since the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, especially among medical technical assistants (MTAs), has not stopped here. Nevertheless, the entire team of chief physicians Moche and Staab is fully prepared to master the coming tasks in the interest of the best patient care.
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More information about Helios Park-Hospital Leipzig
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More information about PD Dr. med. Michael Moche
