An inno­va­tion from Vienna can pre­vent any unp­lea­sant side-effects from operations.

During tumour ope­ra­ti­ons in what is known as the pel­vis minor there is a chance that ner­ves may suf­fer damage. This can have unp­lea­sant con­se­quen­ces for pati­ents, such as anal and uri­nary incon­ti­nence, as well as dis­tur­ban­ces to nor­mal sexual func­tions. A device deve­lo­ped at the Medi­cal Uni­ver­sity in Vienna could help to pre­vent this as it crea­tes a map of the ner­vous sys­tem prior to surgery.
Bela Teleky, who are intesti­nal sur­gery experts and mem­bers of the Com­pre­hen­sive Can­cer Cen­ter (CCC): “It is an instru­ment which mea­su­res the func­tion of the ner­ves before, during and after the ope­ra­tion. Initial test­ing shows pro­mi­sing results. Initi­ally the instru­ment will be used for tumours in the rec­tal zones.”

Exact Plan­ning
With what is known as the neuro-map­ping faci­lity it beco­mes pos­si­ble to check whe­ther there are any dis­tur­ban­ces of the nerve func­tions. It makes it pos­si­ble to make more detailed plans for the ope­ra­tion. During the ope­ra­tion, the instru­ment is able to moni­tor the ner­ves, which redu­ces con­se­quen­tial damage.
The super­vi­sion of the nerve sys­tem is by way of nar­row pro­bes simi­lar to acu­p­unc­ture need­les, which can sti­mu­late the ner­ves or mea­sure the mus­cle con­trac­tions from the blad­der to the sphinc­ter mus­cles. A graph on a moni­tor makes the ner­ves visi­ble and acou­stic signals demons­trate their sti­mu­la­tion and reactions.