Integrating with media devices

In May, Leica introduced a new application that allows integration between its surgical microscopes and an Apple iPhone, iTouch, or iPad, Med X Mobile.


"The surgeon can now wirelessly download videos directly from a Leica surgical microscope onto his iPhone, iTouch, or iPad, which is a huge innovation. There was an enormous acceptance by the doctors," Schwartz says. "The surgeon can finish a surgical case and immediately download video to show to family members or other surgeons. It's a very exciting new technology."

Langer was one of the first to utilize the technology and believes it is a great advancement to be able to transfer still photos or short MP4s to show the patient or his or her family what was done in the operating room.

"The nice thing is, historically, you had to go through iTunes to move things and that just created problems, because you can't put iTunes under a microscope just yet," Langer says. "Leica solved the problem. When you just want to show a little clip of a case, it's a really valuable piece of software."

Schwartz says that surgeons also use Med X Mobile for its teaching capabilities, whether it's teaching residents about a procedure they have done or showing another surgeon a specific situation.




Looking ahead

There are other things coming down the pipeline as well.

Bill Tinker, owner of the Tascosa Group, a used equipment seller and refurbisher that specializes in microscopes, believes that although the main companies come up with plenty of bells and whistles, "microscopes really don't do much more than what they did 20 years ago."

Tinker has something in the works that he thinks will revolutionize the microscope industry later this year. Although he couldn't give full details about his new product, because he is still looking for dealers, he did offer some hints as to what he is so excited about.

"What this new product will do is, essentially, make microscopes obsolete for a lot of different surgeries. It's a little miniature 1.8 mm fiberscope with a miniature chip camera on the end, and the fiber will connect to handheld instruments," he says. "This would be good for a dentist. They can connect instruments they already use as it gives them magnification and they can use a surgical technique like endoscopy, where they work off of a monitor. It has better illumination, so they can see a lot better."

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