unquestioned. "The stuff works," says Dr. Shah. "Does its working
translate into better outcomes? We don't know yet. Can you work
better if you see better? Yes."
Of course, any facility considering adopting image enhancement
options will inevitably face the issue of cost, since it's not a plug-and-
play software upgrade. "It's a great technology, but you have to buy
the entire tower and their scope to use it," says Dr. Ross. "Surgical
robotics has it integrated in, and it's very useful there, but you
wouldn't buy a whole new platform just to do gall bladders."
As Dr. Poll notes, however, "every have-to-have product in medicine
started out as a you-don't-really-need-that, from laparoscopy to
lithotripsy to the CAT scan."
OSM
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