Board-certified neurosurgeon Roger Frankel, MD, is president of Atlanta Brain and Spine Care and medical director of the Piedmont Hospital Spine Center Quality Program in Atlanta.
Here, Dr. Frankel shares his thoughts on the future of robotics in spine.
Question: How do you see robotics developing in spine?
Dr. Roger Frankel: Robotics is an emerging technology in spine surgery. It is in its earliest generations of development and shows great promise to increase accuracy and efficiency of spinal instrumentation. As newer iterations of the technology are more closely integrated with stereotactic navigation and new tools and capabilities are added to robotic arms, the number of surgical applications will increase exponentially.
Currently most machines accurately hold a guide in position for the surgeon to manually place screws. Future technology will allow the robot to place screws accurately without the level of surgeon planning currently needed. It would not surprise me if screw length measurements, rod placement, spinal deformity correction software and rod bending capabilities would be automated and included in future generations of this type of technology.