Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, N.C., recently added an ExcelsiusGPS robot to its spine program, ABC affiliate WLOS reports.
Costing about $1 million, the Globus Medical robot is designed to assist surgeons with the placement of pedicle screws around the spinal cord.
"Over the years, in all of the studies that have looked at screw placement into the spine, nobody has batted 100 percent," Keith Maxwell, MD, a spine surgeon at the hospital, told WLOS. "This is about the second or third thing that I can think of in 33 years that has just been a real game changer for spine surgery."
John Hicks, MD, of EmergeOrtho- Blue Ridge Region, also offers robotic spine surgeries at the hospital. The surgeons have performed a combined 10 robotic procedures to date.
Robotic spine surgery has demonstrated an ability to reduce soft tissue disruption, decrease OR times, shorten length of stay and lead to quicker recovery times for patients.
Globus Medical plans to expand the robot's indications for further spine surgeries in the future.