Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now the undisputed standard in surgical lighting. In the past few years, very few building or renovation projects have specified halogen OR lights over LEDs, say equipment planners. For light quality, color rendition, shadow reduction, thermal comfort, energy efficiency and low-maintenance longevity, LED lights can't be beat. And when you're choosing from among the major vendors whose products we highlight over the next few pages, planners say it's hard to pick a bad one. Still, there are 3 factors you'll want to consider carefully if you're outfitting or upgrading your OR lights.

1. Equipment uniformity. Very few facilities install or replace just their lights. Usually such a purchase is part of a larger room-building or -remodeling plan, with surgical lights, equipment booms and OR integration planned and installed all at once. As a result, you'll often choose a single vendor for lights, booms, integration and related equipment. This uniformity may offer technical and economic advantages, but is by no means mandatory. If you do choose different vendors for different components, planners note, don't just let the vendors tell you that their products interface. Make them show you that they do. Otherwise, if one component doesn't perform up to specifications, you may find one manufacturer's service rep pointing fingers at another, with your facility's surgical capabilities stuck in the middle.

2. See the light in person. Trialing a surgical light can be a subjective process. A conference exhibit hall isn't the ideal environment in which to judge how well it can illuminate an OR. A vendor can certainly bring a light into your ORs, but it'll probably be on a temporary stand that won't represent the final result, since you won't want the expensive OR downtime of repeatedly uninstalling and re-installing your existing light fixture to try out new candidates. The most accurate way to see what a light will look like in your facility is to visit another facility of about the same size that does the same types of surgeries — vendors should be able to provide you with a list of such references — and pay them a visit. In addition to the quality of light, be sure to take note of whether the lights stay where they're placed or tend to drift.

3. You can't do enough planning. While you're visiting other surgical suites, ask your fellow administrators about the experiences they had installing and using their lights. What would they do differently, if anything? Equipment experts report that most users say they would have benefited from more planning up front, particularly seeing and analyzing site-specific 3D mock-ups or shop drawings. Collisions with flat panel monitors or tall surgeons' heads aren't what you had in mind when you entered the market for brighter illumination. Make certain there is effective communication between your planner, vendor and contractor or engineer in order to ensure they check each others' work.

Just in case
Sometimes, however, even the best plans fall short. Make sure your purchasing agreement includes a provision stating that if you experience any problems with a light's placement after it's installed, the contractors will return to correct the problem at their expense. They'll put real attention into the task the first time around, if it's their money on the line.

Berchtold
Chromophare F Generation Surgical Light
www.berchtoldusa.com
(800) 243-5135
Price range: $15,000 to $28,500
FYI: The Chromophare F Generation's lightweight, ultra-thin and easily maneuverable design combines the benefits of LEDs with precision reflector technology to deliver a depth of field that an array of LEDs cannot achieve alone. The light's 104 LEDs are reflected, multiplied, focused and redistributed into 650 beams of overlapping light for a homogenous column with deep illumination and superior shadow control across the surgical field.

Huot Instruments
StarTrol LED 9-Pod Balanced Arm Surgery Light
www.startrol.com
(800) 212-8466
Price range: $3,000 to $6,000
FYI: The StarTrol 9-pod LED surgical light uses less energy than a 75-watt incandescent bulb. Its dimmable light is cool and comfortable to work beneath, as the unit emits virtually no radiant heat, and requires no bulbs or bulb replacement. The LED light provides a natural, 4,700 degrees Kelvin color temperature with a high color rendering index for ideal tissue rendition. The light is easy to mount on a wall, ceiling or boom, and its no-drift balance arm design stays in place, needing no adjustment.

Maquet
PowerLED Surgical Light
www.maquetusa.com
(888) 627-8383
Price range: not disclosed
FYI: Maquet's PowerLED surgical light provides up to 40,000 hours of homogenous light for deep cavity illumination and accurate tissue color rendering. Lightweight and easy to maneuver, the unit minimizes shadows by reducing illuminance to LEDs that are obstructed by surgical personnel beneath them, while increasing output from unobstructed LEDs. Another advance compensates for light drift during extended procedures to ensure continual, optimized output at the surgical site. PowerLED lights include ambient lighting features, are integration-ready and have high-definition in-light camera options.

Nuvo
Verde LED Surgical Light
www.nuvosurgical.com
(800) 663-1152
Price range: $19,000 to $36,000
FYI: Nuvo's Verde lights feature a combination of red, green and white LEDs for a consistent color rendering index — an indicator of high-quality and true-color illumination. The "green mode" turns out the red and white LEDs at the touch of a button to dim the room for optimal monitor viewing during laparoscopic or arthroscopic cases while retaining ambient light for staff. While the company admits that LEDs' light intensity will decrease by as much as 15% after 5 or 7 years, a visit from its field technicians at that time can recalibrate them to 100%.

Skytron
Nautilus LED Surgical Light
www.skytron.us
(800) SKYTRON
Price range: $13,800 to $35,000
FYI: The latest addition to Skytron's surgical light offerings, the Nautilus LED can be configured with single, dual and triple light heads, can accommodate up to 2 monitor arms, or can be incorporated into Skytron's Center Tandem Mount boom system. Each fixed-focus light head illuminates with an intensity of 160,000 lux and a color temperature of 4,300 degrees Kelvin for highly accurate tissue color rendering and minimal eye fatigue.

Steris
Harmony LED Lighting and Visualization System
www.steris.com
(800) 548-4873
Price range: not disclosed
FYI: The optics on Steris's Harmony LED Lighting and Visualization System provide virtually shadow-free illumination of the surgical site, enabling a detailed view of exposed tissue under a bright, white, 160,000 lux spot area. The lights also reduce energy consumption by a third, require no bulb changes and deliver a cooler, more comfortable OR with 34% less beam heat than halogen lights.

Stryker Communications
Visum LED II Surgical Light
www.stryker.com
(866) 726-3705
Price range: $29,000 to $59,000
FYI: The Visum LED II surgical light from Stryker features a large spot size and depth of field, which decrease the need for mid-procedure adjustments. The bright white, 160,000 lux, cool illumination from energy-efficient LEDs and proprietary reflector design virtually eliminate shadows in the surgical field. The compact, lightweight unit, constructed from aluminum and glass, is easy to maneuver, requiring little maintenance and no bulb changes. Configuration options include single, dual or triple arm sets and integrated cameras and flat panel monitors.

Sunnex
Leo Minor Surgical Light
www.sunnexmedical.com
(800) 445-7869
Price range: $13,000 to $15,000 for dual lamps
FYI: Scheduled for introduction this fall, Sunnex's Leo Minor light has been designed for low-power consumption of only 30 watts (as compared to halogen and other LED units which may use 100 watts). This energy efficiency not only saves costs and reduces heat on the surgical site, but also creates a lightweight lamp head. The LEDs are projected to illuminate for 50,000 hours of use with few maintenance costs, and patented optics focus light onto the site without reflecting it sideways into users' eyes.