Planmeca Viso® G7 helps transform lives along the coast of West Africa
Planmeca imaging devices are the choice of Mercy Ships organisation, which offers healthcare services on two hospital ships along the West African coast. Planmeca Viso® G7 imaging device was recently installed on the brand-new Global Mercy ship to aid in maxillofacial operations and dental treatments.
Mercy Ships is a charity organisation, which offers healthcare services on two hospital ships in West Africa. By visiting coastal cities, the hospital ships can reach a large part of the local population in African low- and middle-income countries.
Of the two ships, Africa Mercy has been in operation since 2007. At the beginning of this year, it was joined by a brand-new Global Mercy ship, which has been specially designed and built to be used as a state-of-the-art hospital. Both ships offer locals a wide range of health care services they would otherwise have no access to, including eye surgery, general surgical procedures, jaw and facial surgery, dental procedures, and orthopaedic surgery.
The demand for these services is substantial. In 2022, the volunteers working on Africa Mercy performed over 3,200 surgical procedures. On the new Global Mercy, there are four intensive care units and 102 surgical beds – and a crew of 450–600 volunteers on board. The volunteers are also offering training programmes for local health care professionals to support their work.
Both hospital ships utilise Planmeca imaging devices and software for the assessment and planning of maxillofacial and dental treatments. While Africa Mercy has a Planmeca ProMax® 3D Max CBCT unit and a Planmeca ProOne® panoramic imaging unit installed on board, the new Global Mercy is equipped with a brand-new Planmeca Viso® G7 CBCT unit, capable of both 3D and 2D imaging. Later this year, both Planmeca units on Africa Mercy will also be replaced with a Planmeca Viso G7.
Global Mercy is a state-of-the-art floating hospital that also accommodates the volunteer staff working on board.
Maxillofacial imaging at low patient doses
Planmeca Viso G7 offers state-of-the-art imaging capabilities and large volume sizes up to a full skull. For Mercy Ships, being able to capture images of the entire skull for maxillofacial surgery assessment and treatment planning was actually the primary reason to acquire Planmeca Viso G7.
“We are mostly treating patients with mandibular and maxillary tumours, which usually arise from the teeth and the enamel. We also often see ameloblastomas and patients with injuries in their temporomandibular joints,” tells Martha Henderson, the Radiology Lead at Mercy Ships.
Taking an X-ray with Planmeca Viso G7 is often the first step in the life-transforming maxillofacial surgeries performed on board by the volunteer staff. Henderson herself has been working on Mercy Ships more or less regularly since 2012, capturing X-rays for diagnosis and treatment planning.
“With Planmeca Viso G7, we are able to visualise the pathology and help our maxillofacial surgeons know where to operate and how to reconstruct a patient’s face. In addition, post-op images help check bone plates or screws, which have been added during the surgery. This allows us to operate safely,” Henderson explains.
X-ray images of a patient were captured of a patient with Planmeca Viso® G7.
Besides large volume sizes, another feature that affected the decision to acquire Planmeca Viso G7 was the unit’s ability to capture both 3D and 2D images – a feature which is particularly useful at a clinic where space is limited.
“The ability to have combined functions of the OPG, the bitewing and 3D in one unit has been a wonderful solution for us,” Henderson tells.
Low dose imaging options of Planmeca imaging units also convinced the radiology team working on board. In fact, Henderson sees it their duty of care to keep the patient doses as low as possible.
“CBCT imaging allows visualising the bone detail as well as seeing the roots of the teeth and where the mandibular nerve is running. Compared to other imaging modalities, it also offers lower patient doses. Now, with the Planmeca Ultra Low Dose™ imaging protocol of our Planmeca unit, we are able to keep our patient doses really low whilst maintaining the high image quality,” Henderson tells.
Support for installation and technical team on board
The installation of Planmeca products is usually performed by the local Planmeca distributor or office. Should any questions or issues arise in the installation or later with the field service, the local team is supported by Planmeca After Sales department. In some complex cases, however, the Planmeca After Sales personnel can take care of the entire installation itself as well.
This was the case for the Planmeca Viso G7 installation on Global Mercy, as the operating environment of a ship poses unique challenges to the clinical equipment. Fortunately, Planmeca’s Senior Technical Product Specialist Aku Aalto already had a good understanding of these challenges, as he had been involved in the installation of Planmeca ProMax 3D Max on Africa Mercy back in 2011.
iTherefore, Aku Aalto and Technical Product Specialist Aki Haapala prepared annstallation plan already a few months before the actual installation, solving some of the challenges they would face. For example, it was necessary to build and install a custom-made steel backing plate in the ship’s structures for Planmeca Viso G7, since the ship has no concrete walls or floors.
Aki Haapala and Aku Aalto took care of the installation of Planmeca Viso® G7 on the Global Mercy ship.
Aku Aalto and Aki Haapala also trained members of the technical team for field service, since the ship is docked in a port city for ten months every year and it is often challenging to get technical support in developing countries. Senior Biomedical Technician Guido Kortleven and Biomedical Technician Deborah Nutsugah of the Mercy Ships team later travelled to Finland for some in-depth hands-on training.
“Because the medical staff only has limited time in one country, there is always the pressure to keep the uptime as big as possible. Therefore, our technical team has been building up our knowledge about the equipment we have on board so that we can keep the machines up and running,” Kortleven explains.
“We were truly impressed by the openness and willingness of Planmeca to share knowledge about the Planmeca Viso G7 so that we can make the best use of it and keep the device working. Now, if something goes wrong, I know where to start,” he continues.
Guido Kortleven, Deborah Nutsugah and Martha Henderson got to know Planmeca Viso® G7 inside and out in a hands-on training in Helsinki.
For Kortleven, Nutsugah and Henderson, it is a privilege to work in the ship’s radiology department and ensure the surgeons always have the necessary X-ray images available for the treatment planning.
“That’s why we are all in this profession, we all want to help the patients. It’s really incredible to know that Planmeca supports us the same way,“ Henderson says.
Text: Mari Suominen
Image with the patient: Courtesy of Mercy Ships
Other images: Aki Haapala & Dino Azinur, Planmeca
Planmeca Oy and Planmeca Group
Planmeca Oy is one of the world's leading dental equipment manufacturers, with a product range covering digital dental units, CAD/CAM solutions, world-class 2D and 3D imaging devices and comprehensive software solutions. Privately owned and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, the company offers a portfolio of products distributed in over 120 countries worldwide. Planmeca Oy is part of the Finnish Planmeca Group, which consists of several healthcare technology brands, each committed to innovation and design. With 4,500 employees worldwide, Planmeca Group companies achieved a combined pro forma turnover of EUR 1.2 billion in 2021.
www.planmeca.com
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