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Versatile Videography, Minus the Downtime

BY Robert Murphy

Robert Cionni, MD, is a busy surgeon and educator. As medical director of the Eye Institute of Utah and the SurgiCare Center of Utah, in Salt Lake City, adjunct clinical professor at the University of Utah, and an internationally known lecturer who relies heavily on surgical videos, he does not have time for downtime. Since his practice obtained the Sony PMW-10MD full high-definition medical-grade camera system three years ago, downtime with his much-used video system has not been a problem.

Dr. Cionni and his colleagues evidently put the system to full use. Among its wide-ranging applications are “to record each and every eye surgery in my ASC,” Dr. Cionni notes in an e-mail exchange. That’s just the beginning.

MORE THAN A TEACHING TOOL

Dr. Cionni acknowledges the Sony camera system’s utility as a teaching tool. “Cases with interesting occurrences or good teaching features are downloaded to the requesting doctor’s laptop for editing for teaching purposes,” Dr. Cionni says.

The reach extends further. “We also broadcast all cases to the patient viewing room for the patient’s family to watch live,” Dr. Cionni says. Call it a separate genre of reality TV. “We also utilize live broadcast for referring-doctor training events.”

Sounds like Dr. Cionni favors the Sony PMW-10MD medical-grade camera system at least as much for its presentation and educational features as for its clinical benefits. Has the system yielded benefits in terms of clinical outcomes? “Not so much in patient care, but the families love the viewing opportunity,” Dr. Cionni says. “And the teaching value is immense.”

PRODUCT DETAIL

Sony’s model PMW-10MD full highdefinition (HD) medical-grade camera system combines superb image quality—“excellent,” in Dr. Cionni’s words—with a built-in HD recorder, according to Sony. It’s a compact device with a remote head design allowing integration into a wide range of surgical microscopes to capture and store HD still and video images of eye procedures, according to Sony literature.

Some technical details deserve mention. The camera comes with three half-inch (1,920 × 1,080) Exmor CMOS image sensors, each of which delivers more than 2 million pixels, according to Sony. The sensitivity of the PMW-10MD is said to be ideal for low-light conditions, such as microsurgery.

What is it about the Sony camera system most appealing to Dr. Cionni? “High-quality HD even in low light,” Dr. Cionni says. “The image core helps greatly with managing the large files.”

There is more. The PMW-10MD camera features a 54-dB signal-to-noise ratio with a wide dynamic range of 450%, according to Sony. The built-in recorder works both in 1,920 × 1,080 and 1,440 × 1,080 modes.

OTHER COMPONENTS

Besides the PMW-10MD camera and its recorder, Sony in recent years has rolled out ancillary equipment to work in tandem with them. One that is particularly noteworthy is the LMD-3250MD 32-inch (diagonal) LCD medical-grade widescreen display with full HD (1,920 × 1,080) resolution.

A variety of display methods underscore its utility. For instance, it can provide images side by side. The LCD display allows the observer to view multiple diagnostic modalities at once. Another nice feature is a picture-in-picture mode to present large inset images. A final word on the monitor concerns its 10-bit signal processing and Sony’s ChromaTRU color balancing for detail, brightness, and color accuracy, according to Sony.

Want to complete the suite of Sony’s medical-grade camera system? Then you might be interested in the UP-DR80MD dye-sublimation digital printer. It can produce quality 8-by-10-inch prints. Setup involves connecting the printer through a USB port to just about any camera system. Among its capabilities are optimal printing for reports that combine text and high-resolution images. RP