DONATIONS AT WORK HIGHLIGHTS 2025/26

Best tools, best outcomes

Having the highest-quality imaging possible is vital to providing precision care and reducing risks for children undergoing surgery and other procedures in the operating room. Thanks to generous community support, the Alberta Children’s Hospital is home to a new, leading-edge C-arm — a C-shaped mobile imaging machine that uses X-ray technology to garner real-time, high-resolution video images during an operation.

Your support has outfitted the hospital’s operating room suites with a leading-edge OEC Elite CFD C-arm, along with complementary software to ensure surgical teams have clear and up-to-the-second imaging to inform decisions and provide the safest care possible to young patients.

The donor-funded technology is being used daily to support orthopedic surgeries — such as fixing fractured bones — as well as helping experts place urinary stents, remove kidney stones and repair damaged blood vessels, says Stephanie Emberley, manager of Diagnostic Imaging.

“There are lots of new features, including a digital detector and laser centring system, which help remove some guesswork when trying to capture images,” says Emberley. “And it has WiFi, so we can send images to other staff straight from the operating room.”

The new C-arm is more flexible and can be moved and manipulated to get different angles than was previously possible, adds Emberley. High-definition screens on two different sides of the machine allow both surgeons and X-ray technologists to simultaneously see what is happening in real time. It also has a wireless foot switch, which allows surgeons to snap photos as they see fit mid-procedure.

Despite all of the features that make the equipment more user-friendly for staff, the biggest benefit is increased safety and better outcomes for kids, says Emberley.

“We have a pediatric mode, which reduces the radiation for smaller patients while still giving us significantly better pictures,” she says. “The upgraded equipment allows for more procedures to be minimally invasive, meaning smaller incisions, less time in the operating room, quicker recovery, less scarring and less risk.”