Page 132 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2020

HEALTHY LIVING
IMAGE GUIDANCE
Giving Doctors an Inside Look
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster Aand courtesy of Sinuplasty Center of Excellence
s a pioneer in developing and using balloon sinuplasty for sinus surgery, Dr. Ray Weiss continues to be involved in this rapidly advancing technology that greatly improves patient outcome.
He’s enthusiastic about the TruDi image guidance system that provides three dimensional views and software tools to more accurately pinpoint the sinus doorways.
“Balloon sinuplasty has become much more common since I did the rst cases in the U.S. more than 15 years ago,” he said. “But not everyone undergoing sinuplasty gets the same results, and that is often the result of the surgeon missing the true sinus doorway with the balloon. Until now, positioning the balloon was based on light coming out of the end of the device, and it often took a lot of experience to accurately interpret what the light transmission meant.”
Weiss says that with TruDi, it is now possible to pinpoint where the wire and balloon are to less than one millimeter. “This is a game changer because now I can show both the patient and myself exactly where the balloon is placed and dilated. It also means that we can teach surgeons with
less balloon experience to be more accurate and thus get better results.”
Image guidance technology began with sinus surgery 20 years ago and Weiss served on the scienti c
advisory board for the company that developed the
original device. “The development of innovative technology has been key to advancing sinus surgery
over the last 15 years,” Weiss explains. “We now do sinus procedures in the o ce with patients awake, which never
seemed possible before. TruDi is a shining example of how innovation can make the process easier and quicker
for patients. I’ve been very pleased with the accuracy and e ciency it has a orded me, and I now use it in every case, both in the o ce and in the operating room.” The initial work on the development of TruDi began in the spring of 2014 when Weiss was chosen to lead the initial trip to Haifa, Israel to
Dr. Ray Weiss
132 | October 2020