Medical engineering specialist, Starkstrom, says it is ‘delighted to be winning contracts, promoting innovation, and supporting British industry, by producing world-class equipment’, primarily manufactured at its Midlands facility.
The company also distributes ‘world class’ products from KLS Martin, OPT Surgisystems, and Medap, with its product portfolio ‘carefully put together to ensure customers get the cohesive solutions they need’. The company said: “We continue to provide NHS and private hospitals here and overseas with the very best technology for operating theatres and critical care areas, proving that even in this challenging financial climate, a company with the right skills, products, and ethos, can still succeed.” Starkstrom says its SIL 2-approved isolated power systems, theatre control panels, and PACS viewing stations, are ‘particularly notable for their market-leading design’.
It added: “Clients worldwide continue to be impressed by the fact that Starkstrom can provide an integrated package of operating room and critical care equipment – our Integrated Solutions range. They need only deal with one specialist supplier, saving time and money, and ensuring that projects run smoothly and efficiently.”
This year Starkstrom has supplied and fitted its KLS Martin marLED V16/10 lights with HD camera, Starkstrom S300 pendants, and theatre control panels, to ‘integrate seamlessly’ with the Brainlab Buzz ‘neuro-navigation’ system in a new cardiac hybrid theatre and intra-operative MRI facility recently completed at Leeds General Infirmary. The combination of the KLS operating lights and arms, the Brainlab Buzz Navigation system, and the GE 3-Tesla high field iMRI, is a UK first.
Extending the fourth floor of the hospital’s Clarendon Wing, and built on eight raking columns up to 17 metres long, the new theatre complex improves the care provided to young patients with complex congenital heart disease, and those undergoing neurosurgery. The cardiac hybrid theatre allows cardiac surgeons and cardiologists to perform surgery simultaneously, meaning the skills of both specialists can be employed together, reducing treatment time.
Surgical lighting is, of course, a critical element in an operating theatre, greatly influencing the course of an operation. Every clinical situation and individual’s surgical preferences are different. Theatre lighting thus needs to be sufficiently versatile to suit for every situation and every operator. Starkstrom said: “KLS Martin presents innovative light technology in a compact unit: marLED X technology minimises set-up time for the lights, and simultaneously maintains a very long service life.
“Powerful, individually controllable LEDs ensure brilliant and even illumination of the surgical field. No matter which light intensity, luminous circular or oval field size, or colour temperature, is required, marLED X provides numerous adjustments for the surgeon, along with fully automatic active shadow management.”
Clear icons ‘ensure that every action is completely intuitive’. marLED X can be controlled using the luminaire body control panel or the optional control unit, marTouch Pro. Settings can be saved for specific users and specialties. The closed surface and flow-optimised housing design ‘facilitate quick and thorough cleaning’. Starkstrom says that safety glass of the operating light and IP55 protection ‘substantially increase safety and service life’, while the lights reportedly offer the market’s highest Ra / colour rendering index.
