A study published in Clinical Spine Surgery outlines the future of image guidance and robotics in spine.
Four things to know:
1. While robotics and image guidance technology present some benefits, they also have technical challenges for spine surgery including physical and mental fatigue as well as hand tremor. Surgeons also sometimes report difficulty with manual dexterity and surgical precision.
2. The article authors deemed image-guided and robotic-assisted surgical systems "safe, accurate and time-efficient" based on the current literature.
3. The next evolution of image guidance and robotics in spine may include augmented reality systems that build upon the navigation platforms. This type of technology has not come to market yet.
4. The authors also call for further research to determine whether image guidance and robotics have superior outcomes to conventional spine surgery techniques before widespread adoption.