The first augmented reality-assisted spine surgery in Georgia has been completed by Justin Bundy, MD, at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Fox news affiliate WFXG reported March 3.
Dr. Bundy performed the surgery about a month ago, he said, with Augmedics' Xvision Spine system, named one of the best inventions of 2020 by Time magazine. The device has a headset designed to function as if the surgeon has X-ray vision into the patient's anatomy to accurately navigate instruments and implants while looking at the patient instead of a screen.
Xvision determines the position of surgical tools and superimposes them on the patient's CT data, which is projected onto the surgeon's retina using the headset, allowing the surgeon to simultaneously look at the patient and the navigation data.
Dr. Bundy told WFXG the system allowed him to make "less incisions and less invasive muscle dissection to put in screws safety. Being able to do that enhances the patients' outcomes as far as recovery goes, as far as safety goes, as far as reproducibly knowing exactly where we are at during the operation."