Steris Corp. (NYSE:STE) and Toshiba Medical Systems Corp. struck a deal to collaborate on creating hybrid operating room suites.
The hybrid suites allow surgical and diagnostic teams to perform open surgeries and carry out a wide range of image-guided cardiovascular, vascular and neurosurgical procedures without moving a patient from room to room.
The combined ORs are expected to lead to significant savings in health care spending by improving the patient outcomes after surgery and shortening the length of hospital stays.
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"Hybrid operating rooms offer tremendous opportunities to advance care, but designing and building these complex rooms is a huge task," Steris’s Robert Popilock said in prepared remarks. "Challenges such as how to eliminate collision points for equipment, optimize circulator pathways and provide ergonomic and intuitive tools at the surgical field, must be addressed. We are pleased to be able to help streamline the decision, design and integration processes for customers through collaboration with Toshiba America Medical Systems, a leader in the hybrid OR space."
Toshiba will provide the hybrid ORs with imaging technologies and tableside digital information. The Mentor, Ohio-based Steris Corp. will offer its custom-room builder surgical suite software, its Harmony iQ advanced integration system and OR equipment management solutions.
“Aligning with strategic partners like Steris Corp., Toshiba can offer advanced hybrid labs to meet the needs of large hospitals and healthcare networks by treating patients with interventional and surgical procedures all in one suite,”
Stephen Bumb, director of Toshiba’s x-ray vascular business unit said in a prepared statement.
Getinge Group subsidiary Maquet announced the restructuring
of its U.S. sales and services to meet the growing hybrid operating room market last week.
The hybrid OR market may prove to be an important revenue stream for Steris, which has seen sluggish sales of its flagship sterilization device, the System 1E since FDA has been slow clearing a crucial component.
Steris’s product is a liquid chemical sterilization system for heat-sensitive medical instruments. The component in question is a biological indicator designed to signal that all living organisms have been killed by the device. And although it’s not necessary to run the device, it’s a feature desired by Steris customers and its lack of availability is holding back sales