PRESS RELEASE 93-77 Immediate Linda S. Ellis (Bus: 216/433-2900)

First Public Demonstration of New Surgical Technique Set

Cleveland, OH -- NASA Lewis Research Center will provide the satellite communication link on Tuesday, November 16 at 9 a.m. for the first public demonstration of a new surgical technique for brain surgery that promises to reduce health care costs, while substantially improving health care delivery. The surgery will be beamed live from the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, to participants at the Med Tech '93: Imaging and Minimally Invasive Surgery Conference at the London Convention Centre, London, Ontario. The Computer Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (CAMIS) technique and technology was pioneered at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation with Cleveland-based Picker International. The Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, facilitated the collaborative team consisting of several Ohio universities, government agencies and private industry. "The CAMIS image-guided surgery allows the physician to locate the tumor or lesion with millimeter accuracy and offers a substantial reduction in operating and patient recovery time," according to Dr. Gene Barnett, a developer of CAMIS and surgeon slated to perform the craniotomy. The communications network configuration for Med Tech '93 combines both terrestrial and satellite one-way audio and video transmission media. Originating from one of the Cleveland Clinic's operating rooms, Ameritech/Ohio Bell will provide a fiber optical link to NASA Lewis Research Center Ku-ban uplink station. From there the signal will be transmitted via Telesat Canada's ANIK E2 satellite to the Toronto Teleport and via Bell Canada terrestrial facilities to the London, Ontario, Canada, Convention Center. The return audio link is a simple dial up return link. # # # -end-