Robotic-Assisted Spine Surgery

With advanced robotic technology, doctors can now use mechanical guidance to perform spine procedures with unparalleled accuracy, requiring an even smaller incision and making recovery shorter and with reduced pain. Using Mazor Robotics Renaissance, surgeons are able to plan the entire operation using software mapped to the patient’s specific anatomy and diagnosis, before entering the operating room. The robot calculates exact angles and positions according to the surgeon’s blueprint but the doctor is always in full control.

Mazor Robotics Renaissance boasts the title of the first FA-cleared mechanical guidance system for spinal surgery, with accuracy in screw placement of under 1.5mm. Over 23,000 procedures have been performed with this technology, which is available in over 150 hospitals worldwide and growing.

Lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, with approximately 31 million Americans experiencing backpain at any given time. There are different forms of conservative treatment: bed rest, muscle relaxants, physical therapy, prescription pain relievers, and interventional pain procedures. While these treatments can be effective, chronic pain can only be truly alleviated by addressing the cause.

With Mazor Robotics, surgeons can better perform minimally-invasive surgeries, with the potential advantages of:

• Smaller incisions and scars
• Minimal scaring and destruction of soft tissue
• Less blood loss during surgery
• Shorter hospital stays
• Less postoperative pain
• Less need for postoperative pain medicine
• Faster return to work and daily activities

Robotic-Assisted Guidance with Renaissance seeks to improve spinal surgery. Improving screw accuracy and placement with higher confidence and safety in difficult areas is a goal in mind, as well as improving screw insertion times; especially in cases of difficult anatomy. Robotic-assistance reduces the use and risk of fluoroscopy, making it safer for not just the patient, but the surgeon as well. The use of robotics isn’t limited, either. It can be used for all levels of difficulty: minimally-invasive procedures, percutaneous and complex/deformity cases.

How It Works

A blueprint of the ideal surgery is created in a virtual 3D environment using a preoperative CT scan of the patient. Next, a mount is attached to the patient’s afflicted area, ensuring maximum surgical accuracy throughout the procedure.

The location of the mount is labeled, such as the L5 vertebral body. After the point is positioned, from this single reference point on L5, the software is able to find and match all the vertebral bodies of the intraoperative fluoroscopy with the preoperative CT. The most unique feature about Mazor’s registration process is that each body is registered independently; this means that the software looks at each vertebral body as its own unique and independent unit, disregarding the differences in intervertebral space.

Once the two fluoroscopy images are synchronized, tools and implants are guided to the planned trajectory with 1.5mm accuracy.