Cape Town - Tygerberg Hospital, which is leading the way in the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosis, has a new hi-tech weapon in its arsenal.
This week, the hospital received a miniature radial ultrasound probe and bronchoscope worth R3 million from the Rotary Club of Blouberg, making it not only the first hospital in South Africa, but also on the continent, to have this kind of technology.
The hospital’s head of clinical paediatric pulmonology, Professor Pierre Goussard, told Weekend Argus the new bronchoscope allowed doctors to undertake procedures on children in a less invasive way.
“In the past, we would have to perform surgery to get samples and biopsies and to detect any abnormalities in the airways of children, but no more. This technology is far less invasive,” he said.
With the new equipment, doctors would also be able to carry out ultrasound tests on patients’ airways and lungs, which would give doctors a better indication of the location of problem areas and what treatment was required.
“This technology is very unique. Instead of opening up the chest, we now go down the airway and we can get samples by using a 2mm needle. We can use this procedure on children between the ages of 3 months and 12 years,” said Goussard.
In addition to children, the new equipment will be used to treat adults, and will be particularly effective in the treatment of drug-resistant TB and allow doctors to make better diagnoses.
In the past, doctors would have to perform scans on children with equipment that exposed them to radiation, but this is obviated by the new technology.
Goussard said doctors would also use the bronchoscope to treat adults with cancer.
Chief executive of the Tygerberg Hospital Children’s Trust, Jason Falken, said while the public was generally unaware of the work done at hospital, “great things are happening there”.
“We are helping in a big way with this unique service,” he said.
There was also a R200 000 donation from the Tygerberg Hospital
Children’s Trust toward acquiring the equipment.
Rotary Club member Heléne Visser said the organisation had been “working with” the hospital for the past 20 years and had often provided it with assistance.
“It took us three years to raise
the funds for the bronchoscope,” she said.
The technology was developed by Japanese company Olympus, which manufactures optics and reprography products. The company holds a roughly 70% share of the global endoscope market, estimated to be worth approximately $2.5 billion (R36bn).
Luanne Strydom from Surgical Innovations confirmed that the miniature radial ultrasound probe was the first in Africa and the Middle East.
Besides being used to treat patients, the equipment would assist the hospital in undertaking research into tuberculosis.
Goussard said the hospital undertook, on average, 500 bronchoscope examinations per year and 25-30% of them were TB-related.