Novarad's augmented reality surgical guidance system, VisAR, showed strong results in a new study.
Five things to know:
1. The study, "Augmented Reality Spine Surgery Navigation: Increasing Pedicle Screw Insertion Accuracy for Both Open and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeries," was published June 15 in Spine.
2. The study tested pedicle screw placement in seven cadavers. Sixty-five screws were placed using open dissection spine surgery and 59 were positioned with a minimally invasive approach.
3. VisAR placed 124 pedicle screws with 96 percent accuracy. There was a combined angle of error of 2.4 degrees and a distance error of 1.9 millimeters.
4. The study concluded: "Augmented reality is a highly accurate, emerging technology for navigating both open and minimally invasive spine surgery techniques with off-the-shelf headset hardware."
5. VisAR previously received 510(k) FDA clearance, according to a July 15 news release from Novarad. The system uses the patient's radiologic imaging data to create a 3D hologram that is superimposed on the patient during surgery.