Boston, Mass. (Dec. 11, 2006) -- More than 1,300 viewers from around the world logged on to the Medical Center’s first live Webcast featuring a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery performed by Tufts Medical Center’s bariatric surgeons last week. The Webcast aired live on Wednesday, December 6, and was viewed an additional 221 times immediately after the procedure, bringing the number of viewers to over 1,500 in less than 24 hours.
In addition to the live surgery, the Webcast also included information about the Medical Center’s comprehensive Obesity Consultation Center, as well as interviews with current and former patients. The US National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus.gov website simulcast the Tufts Medical Center Webcast live.
During the broadcast, OR-Live recorded international visitors to its web site from Spain, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Puerto Rico, Poland, Australia, Japan, Canada, Finland, Portugal, Mexico, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, China and Qatar. While they could not track users to the individual page level, the Tufts Medical Center event was the only live Webcast at the time.
Gastric bypass surgery is the “gold standard” surgical procedure for treating obesity. The OCC’s surgical unit is one of the few obesity treatment programs in New England that uses primarily minimally invasive, or laparoscopic, techniques for this surgery. Tufts Medical Center’s bariatric surgeons were the first in the region to perform gastric bypass laparoscopically and are New England’s most experienced surgeons for this procedure.
The Webcast is now archived at www.or-live.com/Tufts Medical Center/1730 and can be viewed in full online.