SpineAssist is a small robotic arm coupled with a workstation unit that allows surgeons to map out a patient's spinal anatomy
in advance (pictured). The package also includes a clamping fixation
device and special software to control the robot. These are currently the only robots specifically created for spinal surgery.
So far, spinal
implants have been inserted in 2,000 different surgeries using
SpineAssist. There have been no cases of nerve damage, Mazor says.
A newly released
study in the medical journal Spine
indicates a 98% success rate in implant accuracy via SpineAssist. And a presentation
at a 2010 spinal surgery conference says use of the
robots reduced patients' hospital stay by a third and led to a 70%
reduction in misplaced implants.
Mazor's robotics system are primarily
used in cases of scoliosis and severe spinal deformities. The Dallas
Morning News recently wrote on
the use of SpineAssist on scoliosis patients in Texas:
"Like
a pilot in a flight simulator, I can map out the patient's spinal
anatomy and perform the entire procedure before the patient even
arrives for surgery," [SpineAssist co-creator Dr. Isadore]
Lieberman said. "I contribute the basic carpentry, just putting
the screws in the right spot."
In
addition to increasing precision, Lieberman said SpineAssist reduces
a patient's radiation exposure during surgery. Lieberman said that
with SpineAssist there's less chance of an infection, less pain after
surgery, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and quicker
recovery.
"We
envision this technology as ushering in a new era in spine surgeries,
the same way laparoscopies transformed general surgery in the 1990s,"
said Sara Misuraca, program director of the Scoliosis & Spine
Tumor Center at Texas Health Plano.”
The
use of robotics for spinal surgery is, naturally, a new field.
Hospitals will need to be sold on purchasing SpineAssist systems and
on arranging training sessions for surgeons. Mazor is currently
selling SpineAssist to hospitals for $660,000, along with an annual
$66,000 service fee. Spinal implants marketed by the firm are also
proprietary. Given the inflated costs of just about everything in healthcare, that seems a small price to pay for empirically faster and easier surgery.
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