The minimally invasive spine robot is a robot used for spine surgery. There are a lot of patients who ask their doctors, “I just want you to do the surgery, I don’t want the robot to do the surgery”, which sounds like people don’t know much about this robot yet. In fact, whether it is the current da Vinci robot or the domestic minimally invasive spine robot that is now available, it is operated by the doctor when doing surgery.
The minimally invasive spine robot, which can operate with a robotic arm, avoids the risk of infection that may be associated with human hands touching the patient’s body. Compared with traditional surgery, minimally invasive spine robots can provide more delicate and accurate operations, thus reducing the risk of possible injuries during surgery. In addition, the minimally invasive spine robot can provide clearer and more detailed image information to help doctors better understand the patient’s condition.
Minimally invasive spine robot-assisted spine surgery is based on preoperative imaging data to develop a surgical plan, which is determined by the surgeon, and the robotic arm assists the surgeon to implement it intraoperatively. With the help of computer navigation intraoperative positioning and tracking system, the robotic arm is more accurate and stable than manual positioning. The clinical accuracy of PUMA spine minimally invasive robot reaches sub-millimeter level (≤0.7mm), which greatly improves the precision and repeatability of surgery.
The minimally invasive spinal robotic procedure involves the following steps:
Step 1: Pre-surgical preparation
The minimally invasive spine robot needs to be prepared before surgery, including installing surgical instruments, debugging the robotic system, and sterilizing the surgical area.
Step 2: Robot positioning
The minimally invasive spine robot needs to determine the position and attitude of the surgical area by means of a localization system in order to arrange the position and direction of the robotic arm. The surgeon needs to position and adjust the surgical area on the console.
Step 3: Surgical operation
The robotic arm of the minimally invasive spine robot inserts surgical instruments into the surgical area for operation. The surgeon controls the position and direction of the robotic arm through the handle and foot pedal on the console to perform the surgical operation.
Step 4: End of Surgery
After the surgery, the minimally invasive spine robot needs to be cleaned and sterilized for the next use.
Spinal surgery is one of the most risky surgeries in the orthopedic field, which is like “dancing on the tip of the knife” and requires strict training and systematic accumulation. Currently, the application of robots in other professional fields has been very mature, and the emergence of minimally invasive spine robots will undoubtedly give orthopedic surgeons “wings”. In minimally invasive spine surgery, the surgeon will make surgical planning and decisions, and the robot will act as the surgeon’s eyes and even arms in the future, which will ensure a more precise surgical site, more accurate surgical operations, and less trauma, so that the patients can enjoy highly accurate medical services.
