A hybrid operating room is an advanced surgical theatre that is equipped with advanced medical imaging devices such as fixed C-arms, X-ray tomography (CT) scanners, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. These imaging devices enable minimally-invasive surgery. Minimally-invasive surgery is intended to be less traumatic for the patient and minimize incisions on the patient and perform surgery procedure through one or several small cuts.
Though imaging has been a standard part of operating rooms for a long time in the form of mobile C-arms, ultrasound, and endoscopy, these minimally-invasive procedures require imaging techniques that can visualize smaller body parts such as thin vessels in the heart muscle and can be facilitated through intraoperative 3D imaging.