Pediatric Mission Uses Portable Ultrasound for Corrective Surgeries in Tanzania

Staff from a US hospital, along with an international non-profit organization and a leading medical imaging equipment provider, are working together to correct devastating malformations in children in Tanzania.

The teams are cooperating to perform life-changing corrective surgeries for children with devastating anorectal malformations. The imaging equipment provider donated its ultrasound system to help surgeons perform the procedures.

Toshiba America Medical Systems (Tustin, CA, USA) donated its Viamo ultrasound system for use during the mission led by Mending Kids (Burbank, CA; USA) and surgeons from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH, USA). Mending Kids provides life-saving surgical procedures for children around the world to correct congenital heart defects, and significant cranial facial deformities, orthopedic abnormalities, and severe scoliosis.

Medical staff from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital used the Viamo ultrasound system to evaluate children with anorectal malformations. The staff also trained local medical personnel, and performed 15 life-saving surgeries in a large Tanzanian medical center that serves around 13 million people.

Dr. Steven J. Kraus, radiologist, Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, said, “Through Mending Kids we were able to provide much needed medical technology to assist in the reconstructive training and best practices to treat anorectal malformation, which is commonly done in developed countries, but not easily achievable to many underdeveloped communities like Tanzania. Toshiba ultrasound’s excellent image quality and ease of use enabled our team to successfully assist in the workup for all of the anorectal surgical procedures performed. We were also able to conduct other valuable exams, including identifying tethered spinal cords, helping to find veins for IV access in the ICU and the imaging of conjoined twins.”

Related Links:
Toshiba America Medical Systems
Mending Kids
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center