The UConn Musculoskeletal Institute at UConn Health will be the first in New England to use a new system that will allow for a more precise robotic-guided spine surgery, according to the university.
Beginning in January, Dr. Isaac Moss, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and neurosurgery at the Comprehensive Spine Center of the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute, will be New England’s and Connecticut’s first surgeon to use the new Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System to assist him during spine surgery at UConn John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington.
The robotic guidance technology’s software allows surgeons to pre-plan a patient’s spine surgery virtually, using a 3D simulation of the spinal anatomy based upon the patient’s most recent CT scan.
“It’s so important to plan in advance of spine surgery,” Moss said in a statement. “The Mazor Renaissance technology allows a surgeon to closely review the anatomy of each patient in-depth, and get to know the specifics, to make a more precise surgical plan, and eventually execute a smoother operation.”
Once inside the operating room, the Mazor technology matches, in real time, the surgeon’s pre-operative 3D plan with intra-operative X-ray imaging of the patient’s spine. During the procedure, the technology guides the system’s robotic arm along the spine to help the surgeon pinpoint the precise location to place his tools to ensure the greatest accuracy and safe placement of screws and other hardware into the spine, UConn said.
UConn Health plans to use the robotic-guidance technology for a wide range of spinal procedures, including biopsies, thoracic and lumbar spinal fusion, and reconstruction for a wide variety of conditions such as scoliosis (abnormal curves in the spinal column), spondylolisthesis (when one vertebra slips forward onto the vertebrae below it), tumors, and trauma, among others.
Other potential benefits of the robotic guidance technology include smaller incisions, shorter operative times, shorter hospitalization and recovery, less pain for patients, and less exposure to fluoroscopy X-ray radiation during a spine procedure for both a patient and their surgical team, UConn said.
Two other UConn Health surgeons – Dr. Hilary Onyiuke, director of the Comprehensive Spine Center at the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute and chief of the Division of Neurosurgery, and Dr. Ryan Zengou, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery’s Division of Neurosurgery and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery – also plan to use the robotic guidance system.
