Spinal tumor surgery with robots — 5 things to know

Spine

Can robots help surgeons treat spinal tumors?

A new study examines using a robotic system to treat nine patients with spinal tumors. The average age was 60 years old and all patients presented with thoracic or lumbar vertebral collapse and/or myelopathy. Four patients underwent robotic-assisted augmentation and surgeons successfully performed robotic-assisted posterior instrumentation in all patients.

 

Here are five things to know from the study:

 

1. The average skin-to-skin surgery time was four hours and 24 minutes.

 

2. The average blood loss was 319 mL.

 

3. None of the patients had perioperative complications. There have been no complications reported through the most recent follow-up.

 

4. There were seven patients who reported improved back and/or leg pain at the most recent follow-up. Data was unavailable for the remaining two patients.

 

5. Published complication rate is between 5.3 percent and 19 percent for spinal tumor surgery. However, with the robotic assistance the complication rate could improve.

 

"Our study shows that the robotic system was safe and performed as desired in the treatment of metastatic and primary spine tumors," concluded the study authors. "These results support that further evaluation in the larger series of patients."

 

The robotic system is designed to improve precise pedicle screw placement and can also be useful for non-pedicle-screw procedures, like biopsies and vertebral augmentations.

 

"The robotic navigation offers potential benefits of precise preoperative planning for more suitable entry points and more appropriate trajectories via a strategic less invasive exposure and intraoperative execution of the surgical plan," concluded the study authors.

 

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