Revolutionary surgical light now available in U.S.

TRUMPF Medical Systems Inc., headquartered in Charleston, announced Monday the Food and Drug Administration is allowing the company’s iLED surgical light to proceed to market.

The TRUMPF iLED uses 184 white and color LEDs to provide 160,000 lux of low heat, virtually shadow-free illumination. One of its features is that the iLED gives the surgical team the ability to change color temperature.

Surgeons have long desired this capability, the company said. The TRUMPF iLED literally places human tissue structures in a new light. Bathed in non-glare light, skin and light tissue parts reflect less and the contrast remains intact. Colder light colors were preferred in tests for deeper lying body areas and for longer surgeries.

Shadows, cast over the surgical site by the position and movement of the surgical team, as well as by equipment, are dealt with everyday in surgery. Because each LED used in the iLED has its own convergence lens, each generates its own light field. Together, the fields combine into a very homogenous and shadow-free light.

Since LEDs have dramatically long lifecycles of about 20,000 hours or an estimated five to eight years, the iLED will help medical facilities save money.

The iLED was introduced in Europe in November 2005 by TRUMPF Medizin Systeme of Puchheim, Germany, the parent company of TRUMPF Medical Systems Inc.