Spine innovations will reshape the landscape, but not necessarily make things completely obsolete, Xiaofei (Sophie) Zhou, MD, said.
Dr. Zhou, of Cleveland-based University Hospitals, shared her insights on what’s ahead in the spinal tech landscape.
Question: What’s a spine technique or technology that will be obsolete by 2035? Why?
Dr. Xiaofei Zhou: I don’t believe any single technology will become obsolete. The beauty of medicine is that knowledge is built one layer upon another. The foundations that we lay today are cornerstones to technology for tomorrow. For example, 10 years ago, navigation was not widely adopted. It was present, but not omni-present the way it is today. The way we utilize navigation nowadays is so different — putting in screws has become almost the least challenging portion of the case. But our interest in navigation has now transformed into delving into robotics. Robotics in its current stage is advanced navigation — we are in its infancy. In a few years, will robotics be obsolete? Likely, no, it’ll be transformed in such a way that perhaps patient parameters itself will dictate where screws go and a robot won’t just put in a screw, but can determine optimal location, multiple screws can be placed simultaneously, and perhaps decompressions can be performed by the robot with decreased risk to the dura/neural elements. Technology doesn’t necessarily become obsolete — it evolves and transforms into a new entity.
