Two billion people lack access to the best surgical care. While citizens of the United States and other developed countries take for granted that they will receive the standard of care during surgery, hundreds of millions of surgeries proceed with increased risk of infection, complication, or prolonged recovery.
Surgical innovation has outpaced surgical access.
Dr. Chandra Are, a surgeon trained on three continents, wants to accelerate surgical access. He is the co-founder of Global Laparoscopic Solutions and is the inventor of the portable laparoscope – a surgical instrument that makes minimally invasive surgery simple, less expensive, and more affordable to everyone.
“Laparoscopy has revolutionized surgery,” Dr. Are said. “The technological brilliance of laparoscopy has benefitted many patients but at the same time has remained beyond the reach of many due to its costs and complexity. Our cost-conscious portable laparoscope will add a humanitarian dimension to bring the brilliant advantages of laparoscopic surgery to everyone across the world regardless of their geographic location or socio-economic status.”
Minimally invasive surgery, also called laparoscopic surgery, is the standard of care for many surgical procedures. By performing surgery through a few small incisions, rather than a large open incision, laparoscopic surgery reduces the risk of infection and decreases the duration of recovery. Laparoscopic surgery, however, requires some specialized tools: cameras, surgical graspers and high-definition displays to see inside the patient.
The specialized tools keep getting more specialized. Camera systems and displays increase in resolution. Surgical tools add new functionality. To profitably conduct laparoscopic surgery, hospitals need to devote specialized surgical suites to do nothing but laparoscopic surgery with ultra-high definition monitors suspended from the ceiling and specialized racks to contain the complicated laparoscopic equipment. These suites cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build.
The gulf between innovation and access yawns wide.
With the portable laparoscope, a surgeon can perform laparoscopic surgery in any standard operating room. Dr. Are’s travels around the world and his role as a leader of global surgery inspired him to build innovative medical products that make the best surgical care available to the billions who lack to the best. The portable laparoscope uses innovation to disrupt the innovation gap and make the best surgical care available to all.