More than 3,000 viewers, including residents, community surgeons and consumers logged on to the BWH website on March 6 for BWH’s first live surgical webcast, which involved a total mesorectal excision (TME) — an innovative nerve-sparing technique used to remove cancerous tumors.
Ronald Bleday, MD, chief of the colorectal section in the Department of Surgery, and Michael Zinner, MD, chairman of the Department of Surgery, teamed up as surgeon and commentator with Bleday performing the procedure and Zinner providing the narration of the surgery.
“We chose this particular surgery given its proven success and low recurrence rate among cancer patients,” explains Bleday. “It is a technique that will become the standard of care; however, it is currently limited because not all gastrointestinal surgeons are trained in this procedure.”
Recently, the American College of Surgeons also began a new initiative to have all gastrointestinal surgeons trained in TME.
During the webcast, Bleday wore a head-cam and two camera teams filmed in the operating room to capture the surgery from all possible angles, while a team of technicians was stationed outside to provide technical support for the live broadcast. From the adjoining operating room, Zinner watched the surgery, provided the “play-by-play” and answered questions submitted via email from webcast viewers.
“This is the new-world order in surgery,” said Zinner. “The ultimate goal of this and future webcasts is to take complex procedures and break them down so that both professionals and patients come out with a better understanding and more knowledge of such surgical breakthroughs.”
BWH has three more webcasts planned for this year including a lung cancer surgery scheduled for May 1 at 4:30 p.m.
“As one of the leading teaching hospitals in the United States, part of our mission is to teach beyond the walls of our institution,” said Chief Medical Officer Anthony Whittemore, MD. “This new approach allows us to reach a much broader and more diverse audience than ever before.”
“This was a great learning experience for us,” said Caprice Christian, MD, a Surgery resident here at BWH. “We don’t usually have the opportunity to watch procedures while hearing extensive commentary simultaneously.”
The surgical webcasts are also approved by Harvard Medical School for CME credit. All surgical webcasts will be archived on the BWH website for continued viewing access. To view the archived March 6 webcast, visit the BWH website at www.brighamandwomens.org/surgerywebcast