Category: News

Gasless laparoscopic surgery, pioneered in India to provide an alternative way of lifting the patients abdomen to carry out surgery to rural areas without the need for gas.  The current equipment used is cumbersome, difficult to maintain and hard to sterilised.  A collaborative research team of surgeons, engineers and designers from the UK and India have come together to design a new gasless laparoscopy lift device which is easier to use, lighter and easier to maintain.

Click here to read the full article.

In November 2019 we ran a lower limb amputation course, which used immersive technologies as part of the pre course materials.  Click here to hear perspectives of the first users.

GHRG-ST today presented their work via zoom to surgeons in LMICs to showcase the innovations we have been developing over the course of the project, for more information on each of the innovations please see individual project pages:

RAIS

Lap Pack

Post session questionnaire was sent to attendees during the session, a link to this form is below, this will be open for 1 week.

Post session questionnaire

Health Economist, Bryony Dawkins, facilitated a parallel session titled “Health Economic Evaluation in LMICs: What are the challenges and possible solutions?”. The hour long session offered an introduction to economic evaluation of healthcare followed by a discussion of the complexities of undertaking such evaluations in LMICs where health systems are often made up of many providers and funded from many sources. Surgical trainees and GHRG partners developed new understanding of what health economics is and how it can be used to provide evidence to healthcare decision makers. They worked together to identify the different perspectives to be included in an economic evaluation in this setting and to think about where benefits and costs associated with healthcare fall across different groups. At the end, a group lead summarised the discussion and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Julia Brown, facilitated a parallel session titled  “Challenges in the delivery of clinical trials in LMICs’.  The hour-long session offered an interactive introduction to clinical trials and then a discussion on the barriers/challenges in the design/delivery of clinical trials research from the participants perspectives.  The session was well attended by surgical trainees and GHRG partners. Challenges were identified as community distrust of hospital care, cultural resistance to research, lack of clinical trial knowledge and awareness amongst patients and clinicians, finance and lack of motivation. At the end, a group lead summarised and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

On behalf of the Nuffield Centre for International Health, our GHRG colleague, Dr. Amrit Virk, facilitated a parallel session titled  “How to do health systems analysis in low-resource settings?”. The hour-long session offered an introduction to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “building blocks” framework for assessing health systems.  The session was well attended by surgical trainees and GHRG partners. Participants worked in 3 groups, each choosing a specific health system element—namely governance, medical products and health workforce, and reflected on the barriers and facilitators within each for improving surgical care in Sierra Leone. At the end, a group lead summarised and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

On 19th November 2019, GHRG-ST travelled to Bagalkot in India to attend the 27^th Annual National Conference of Association of Rural Surgeons of India (ARSI) and 8^th International Conference of International Federation of Rural Surgery (IFRS).

During the conference, GHRG-ST delivered 2 workshops on Gas Insufflation Less Laparoscopic Surgery (GILLS).  The first workshop took place on Thursday and was for GHRG-ST invited faculty and senior members of ARSI only for participants to trial the new RAIS equipment,  bellowscope and lap pack through hands on feedback and one to one discussions with researchers on each of the projects.

The second workshop was delivered as part of the main ARSICON programme.  Delegates signed up to the workshop prior to the conference with a maximum of 20 participants.  During this session the current GILLS equipment was showcased through a cadaveric session, plus the new innovations were available for participants to have a look at.  Both workshops were very well received by all and we have received feedback to refine designs on the innovations.

On Friday the team presented work we have undertaken in India over the past 2 1/2 years.  Presentations from GHRG-ST included the TARGET training programme and GILLS registry and surgical innovations including the RAIS equipment, bellowscope and lappack.  After the presentations the team were presented with a token on appreciation from ARSICON.

 

 

Leeds hosted The Global Anaesthesia, Surgery & Obstetric Collaboration (GASOC) annual conference on Saturday 14th September 2019.

This year’s theme was Global Medical Technology.

Professor David Jayne, Clinical Director of GHRG-ST, Dr Jesudian Gnanaraj, Principal Investigator in India were both invited to present at the event.  Other speakers included Tim Beacon from Medical Aid International and Professor Jenny Dankelman from Delft University of Technology.

Abstracts from the group were submitted to the conference, we had 2 presentations and 5 posters accepted.   James Chandler won best oral presentation for, A digitally driven fabrication approach to allow affordable on-site manufacture of a novel upper gastroscope handle and Millie Marriott Webb won 3rd prize for her poster, A collaborative approach to re-design of a lift device for Gas Insufflation Less Laparoscopic Surgery (GILLS) in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).  These abstracts will be published in Tropical Doctor.

GHRG-ST had a stand at the event showcasing our laparoscopic innovations for LMICs

 

 

Dr Jesudian Gnanaraj, GHRG-ST Principal Investigator in India travelled to Leeds last week to meet with the GHRG-ST UK team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During his visit he attended GHRG meetings, met with the UK team and gave his invaluable feedback on the new device being developed by the team at the University and with our industry partner Pd-m.

On Saturday, Dr Gnanaraj presented at the GASOC #medtech conference, click here for more details of the conference.