Kootenai | Kootenai Health | Issue 2, 2021

20 Lifesaving and Life-Enhancing The Kootenai Health Foundation is heading up a $1.1 million campaign to fund highly advanced neurosurgery equipment TECHNOLOGY William Ganz, M.D. Kootenai Clinic Neurosurgery and Spine (208) 625-3800 Cliff Hampton, M.D. Kootenai Clinic Neurology (208) 625-5100 By Devin Weeks Accuracy and efficiency are never more important than when a patient is in surgery. Neurosurgery, especially, requires extreme precision, talent and technology. “With liver or breast cancer, you have a margin around the tumor,” said neurosurgeon William Ganz, M.D. “You can’t risk taking out healthy cells with the brain.” The Kootenai Health Foundation has launched a $1.1 million campaign to purchase cranial navigation and a KINEVO microscope to give neurosurgeons the best tools for this delicate job. Extraordinaryprecision Cranial navigation is guided visual technology that allows surgeons to see in detail so they can operate with extraordinary precision. KINEVO microscopes provide greater visual acuity with state-of-the-art function. This technology combines optical and visualization for precise placement of instruments. “What the KINEVO can do is allow us to not only look with a better illumination, but it also allows us to use a dye during surgery so we can use polarized light. We can actually make the tumor light up,” Dr. Ganz explained. For surgery on aneurysms, it shows surgeons where the blood supply is and where it’s flowing from, allowing them to make sure blood vessels under pressure are still properly working during a procedure. This leading-edge equipment will also reduce surgery time and recovery. “The shorter the time the patient’s under anesthesia, the better they do in general,” Dr. Ganz said. Care close tohome Upgraded cranial navigation and KINEVO microscopes will serve neurosurgery patients in another important way by eliminating the