Hybrid operating room surgery: which procedures it serves and what the room needs

What hybrid surgery means

Hybrid surgery means that open and minimally invasive or endovascular techniques are used in the same session, with imaging available throughout. It saves moving a patient to a different room when the plan changes or a complication arises, which is the main reason hospitals invest in a hybrid room.

If you are new to the room itself, read our overview of the hybrid operating room first. Clinical choices belong to the surgical team; the notes here describe how procedure types influence the room.

Hybrid rooms are also used for teaching and for complex cases that need several specialists at once. That makes video, displays and clear sightlines for every team member part of the brief, not an afterthought.

Vascular and endovascular work

Hybrid room vascular surgery is the classic use: procedures where a surgeon and an interventionalist work together on arteries and veins, combining open access or repair with catheter-based steps under imaging. The room needs a table compatible with imaging, good access around the groin and limbs and enough space for both teams.

Equipment implications include staff radiation protection, lights that reach around the imaging arm and monitors showing live imaging to both teams. Long-reach suspensions such as Sim.FLEX, with arms up to 2,000 mm, suit larger rooms (Sim.FLEX).

The same room may host both elective planned repairs and urgent cases, so the ability to prepare quickly and to switch between open and endovascular set-ups matters as much as the equipment itself.

Cardiac and thoracic procedures

Cardiac and thoracic teams use hybrid rooms for procedures that combine surgery with catheter-based techniques. The room must support anaesthesia and perfusion equipment, a sterile field at open-chest standard and good deep-field lighting.

Pendants for gases and power need to sit around the imaging arc and the extra equipment these cases use. Configurable pendants such as Lojer Solido, built to order as surgical or anaesthesia pendants, are one option (Solido pendants).

Neuro, spine and trauma

Neurosurgical and neurovascular teams use hybrid rooms where imaging is needed during procedures on the brain or spine, and spine surgery sometimes uses imaging to confirm positioning. Trauma teams may use hybrid rooms for rapid assessment and treatment of severely injured patients, an idea related to the hybrid emergency room approach.

These cases often need table flexibility, many monitors and sometimes navigation equipment, all of which add to ceiling and floor planning. Each specialty adds its own requirements, which is why a single hybrid room is often shared by several departments.

What this means for room planning

Gather the specialties and procedure list before design, because the most demanding use will set the room size, ceiling equipment and ventilation. Review imaging configurations in our article on hybrid OR imaging configurations and the broader hybrid operating room requirements.

For lighting and ceiling layout, see hybrid OR lighting. Check regulations and facility licensing with the relevant UAE authorities, and involve your clinical teams in equipment choices.

A common pitfall is designing around one flagship procedure and discovering later that other departments cannot use the room comfortably. Test the layout with a walk-through of each procedure type, noting where each person stands, where imaging parks and where lights and pendants sit.

Discuss your hybrid room

If your hospital is planning a hybrid operating room, Beckfinity can help with surgical lights, suspension arms and pendants. Send your specialties and room plan via the contact page and we will respond with a proposal.