Researchers with New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine were able to complete 10 minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusions using augmented reality with no complications.
The study, published Sept. 30 in Neurospine, aimed to develop and evaluate a workflow protocol for AR in MIS-TLIF. AR protocol worked in parallel with the TLIF procedure and interfered only while calibrating the microscope with the workflow.
The AR protocol was successful in all 10 cases with no complications. The average procedure time was about 160.6 minutes, and implementing AR added about 1.72 minutes to the surgeons' workflow.
The study concluded, "Our findings support the idea that total navigation with AR may further facilitate the workflow, especially in cases with more complex anatomy and for teaching and training purposes. More work is needed to simplify the software and make AR integration more user-friendly."