Imagine how much easier surgery would be if the operating table could magically form to fit the patient's body, keeping them exactly in the place you need them to be. Surgeons could ideally fit themselves to the affected site for surgery.
Such technology already exists! In fact, this is an extremely simple arrangement of a bag of beans; vacuum suction helps shape the beanbag.
A bag of beans is placed on the table and the patient is placed on top. The bean bag is located under the affected area, and the pump is used to create stiffness in the bag to keep the patient in position throughout the procedure. Bean bags have different sizes and shapes, so that you can achieve the ideal form of the patient.
Bean bags are scanned and safe for MRI and are often used to reduce patient mobility during a head and neck scan. A study conducted in 2005 in the journal Nuclear Medicine, determines that the device used vacuum bag neck bag significantly reduced the error-causing movement of patients during an MRI.
This is especially true for babies and toddlers who have all the bodies wrapped in bean bags so that they do not move during the scan. This negates the need to calm babies and toddlers and improves the accuracy of MRI results.
Because of the plastic used for the outer layer of the surgical bean bags, they can be cleaned clean and sterilized, ready for the next procedure. Having a reusable facility is economical and saves storage space.
