CANopen operating room

Source: CAN Newsletter December 2002

The surgeon's working environment has changed continuously in recent years in respect to the technical complexity of the components in use in the operating room (OR). Parallel to this development, the demands for process-optimized procedures have also grown constantly. The impetus for these changes was the beginning of the use of minimally invasive techniques in surgery. In contrast, overall development of the OR itself has been slight or nonexistent. What we are typically confronted with today is an OR outfitted with high tech medical equipment, while only to a limited extent can the design of the OR itself be regarded as ergonomic or holistic. This situation has spread to related specialties as well, and represents a general tendency. Whereas dentists, for example, already enjoy the benefits of a centralized management and operation workplace, this development has not yet reached a satisfactory level for surgeons. The tremendous potential for improvement in this area has not gone unnoticed. Some time ago, Siemens resolved to develop an integrated OR system with the objective of optimizing pre-, intra-, and post-operative processes. This includes a new room design that contributes to the more efficient use of the space available in the OR.
Development began with extensive analyses of OR processes; conducted with valuable input from users, these analyses provided essential information about the individual sub-processes where optimization was possible. The result is Sios, the Siemens (www.siemens.de) Integrated OR System. Intense cooperation between Siemens and other industry and clinical partners has enabled the development of a system with opportunities for centralized operation and control to meet the essential requirements of various surgical disciplines (general surgery, gynecology, urology, orthopedics) today and in the future. The new system design incorporates the control of vital OR components directly from the sterile area (OR lights, table, endo light, endo camera, insufflator, X-ray, ultrasound, video recorder, telephone, video printer, etc.). As a prerequisite for the central control of OR components from different manufacturers, a proven interface standard was adapted for communication. This resulted in an optimized workflow and increased overall efficiency of OR processes. Communication between Sios and the individual components is based on CANopen technology. The advantage of the CANopen network is that a nearly unlimited number of OR components can be connected, with stable and very reliable data transmission.