Dr. Christopher Chin is a head and neck surgeon. (Photo submitted)
The St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation is looking to reduce wait times for minimally invasive sinus surgery.
The foundation is raising money to buy a new piece of equipment known as an ENT Navigation System.
Dr. Christopher Chin, a head and neck surgeon, said the technology allows them to use the patient’s CAT scan intraoperatively.
“The way I explain to patients is that it’s kind of like having a GPS system in the operating room,” said Dr. Chin.
“When you’re doing the surgery in real-time, you just put a little instrument up against their nose and you can see exactly where you are on the CAT scan in real-time.”
Currently, the wait time for this type of surgery in New Brunswick ranges from 12 to 24 months.
It is anticipated that 50 patients will benefit from the new equipment in the first year with that number expected to grow in the years to follow.
Chin said they have specialized equipment at the Saint John Regional Hospital that he can use for these surgeries, but lack it currently lack it at St. Joe’s.
“A lot of the time, these people, if they’re waiting for surgery at the Regional, they’re competing with people who need to have their surgery at the Regional because they have cancer or they need to be admitted to hospital for some other reason,” he said.
“The patient themself actually may be quite healthy and it would be a reasonable surgery to do at St. Joe’s, but because we lack the equipment, they have to be done at the Regional. Therefore, the wait time is just massive right now.”
The foundation has raised more than $30,000 toward its $150,000 goal. The price of the equipment, said Chin, is between $100,000 and $130,000.
His hope is to have the equipment purchased and ready to use for 2021.
“It is a big ask, there’s no question about it. It’s an expensive piece of equipment, but it really does benefit us and allows us to optimize our wait times for not only these patients but for the rest of our list,” said Chin.
You can donate online or by texting the word “NOSE” to 45678.
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