Posted:聽November 5, 2024
By: Laura Eggertson (for聽)
The first time Dr. David Volders used a simulation device to practise threading a tiny catheter into people鈥檚 brain arteries to remove life threatening blood clots, he realized the experience was a game-changer.
Dr. Volders is an interventional neuroradiologist and associate professor at 国民彩票鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine. He specializes in treating people who have strokes, caused by clots that block the blood supply to the brain. He also treats aneurysms, which occur when a weakened artery wall bulges or ruptures.
Every year, Dr. Volders and his colleagues at the QEII Hospital in Halifax perform more than 100 highly specialized procedures called endovascular thrombectomies, or EVTs.
To be successful, the doctors must be confident, and they have to be fast. To gain these skills, they need expert training鈥攖raining Dr. Volders provides as director of 国民彩票鈥檚 neuroradiology program.
Now, thanks to a $415,000 Mentice digital training device and software the QEII and 国民彩票 are purchasing, trainees on Volders鈥 team and across Atlantic Canada will be able to practise performing EVTs and other neurointerventional procedures in a simulated setting, with no risk to patients.
QEII Foundations, 国民彩票 partner
The QEII Foundation has contributed $200,000 to the project through its $100-million We ARE campaign, and the Faculty of Medicine is contributing the remainder, in part by seeking philanthropic donations.
国民彩票 will be one of only three medical schools in Canada with this top-of-the-line simulation equipment.
鈥淲e鈥檒l definitely have the best equipment in Canada for training people,鈥 Dr. Volders says.
Acquiring the Mentice device would not be possible without generous donors, say Dr. Volders and Ms. Susan Mullin, President and CEO of the QEII Foundation.
鈥淭his groundbreaking technology offers an unparalleled simulation experience, allowing our health-care teams at the QEII and beyond to practise and perfect intricate, life-saving procedures in a risk free environment,鈥 Ms. Mullin says.
鈥淲e鈥檙e incredibly proud to partner with 国民彩票 on this leading edge initiative, and we鈥檙e grateful for the many QEII Foundation and 国民彩票 donors who are coming together to make this milestone a reality.鈥
Donors鈥 inspiring support will play 鈥渁n instrumental role in improving patient care and training, recruiting, and retaining medicine鈥檚 best and brightest care providers,鈥
Ms. Mullin adds. Acquiring this simulation training device has real clinical benefit, Dr. Volders agrees.
鈥淭here is a direct return to our patients in terms of making diagnoses and avoiding complications,鈥 he says.
An EVT is a minimally invasive procedure performed in a specialized angio suite where doctors use X-ray images to guide a catheter into the brain vessels, either from an artery in a patient鈥檚 wrist or groin. To remove the brain clot, Dr. Volders then uses either suction from a catheter or a stent-retrieving device to reopen the blood vessel and restore the blood flow.
For a brain aneurysm, he uses a tiny catheter that is placed inside of the aneurysm to create a basket of metal coils to close of the aneurysm from the inside. This procedure significantly reduces the risk of future bursting.
Every second counts. Every moment a clot blocks blood flow to the brain, a patient loses 2 million brain cells鈥攃ausing potentially permanent brain damage and loss of function.
Previously, people learning to perform this procedure had to learn by watching someone more experienced and then by doing it themselves, under supervision, before finally operating on their own. That is an anxiety-provoking training method that can lead to mistakes, Dr. Vold