Surgeons with New York City-based Lenox Hill Hospital began using Stryker's Q guidance system for spine surgery, Northwell Health said Jan. 23.
Frank Schwab, MD; Jonathan Oren, MD, and Alexander Butler, MD, worked together on the hospital's first case using the system, according to a news release. Their patient was a 70-year-old woman who had a spinal fusion. The Q guidance system uses x-ray images to create real-time 3D models to help surgeons visualize a patient's anatomy and provide suggestions.
For Dr. Schwab, the system helped him calibrate locations for spinal screws and other tools during the four-hour surgery, the release said. He also used it to navigate the spinal column and see anomalies that normally wouldn't be visible to the naked eye.
"Technological advancements like this help make any spinal surgery safer, faster and more predictable which, in turn, means a quicker recovery for patients with fewer complications," Dr. Schwab said in the release.
Shortly after the first case was done, Griffin Baum, MD, used the Q guidance system on a complex spinal deformity patient.