Medtronic announces first use in US of Midas Rex drills with the Mazor robotic guidance system 

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Medtronic has announced the first use of Midas Rex drills and navigated disc prep and interbodies with the Mazor robotic guidance system for minimally-invasive spine surgery in the US.

According to a company press release, Gregory Poulter (Otholndy, Indianapolis, USA), Sharad Rajpal (Boulder Neurosurgical & Spine Associates, Boulder, USA), and Eiman Shafa (Twin Cities Spine Centre, Minneapolis, USA) are the first in the US to complete surgeries using the integrated spine surgery platform. 

Medtronic reports that Poulter performed his first case on a 50-year-old male who presented with a pinched nerve in his lower back and severe leg pain. The company claims Poulter was able to conduct an OLIF360sm single position surgery and discharge the patient the following day.

“Robotic assistance has fundamentally changed how we as spinal surgeons operate,” said Poulter. “I believe in the benefits of robotics such that I would strongly recommend it to all of my friends or family if they are in need of a lumbar spine procedure, as I see this as potentially life-changing.”

Sharad Rajpal conducted his first surgery at Centura-Avista Adventist Hospital using the integrated technology on an 83-year-old male suffering from back and severe progressive leg pain and weakness that prevented him from walking, reports Medtronic. According to the press release Rajpal performed an L2/3 decompression fusion and TLIF (transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion) on the patient, who has been discharged from the hospital and is home recovering with minimal pain and improved functionally.

“I believe this technology allows surgeons to perform their spinal procedures even better through more concise planning and execution in the operating room,” said Rajpal. “One additional advantage is the versatility of the system. Surgeons can easily integrate the Mazor robotic guidance system into their current workflows – whether it is using a pre-operative planning computed tomography (CT) with intraoperative fluoroscopy or using an O-arm for scanning and planning altogether in the operating room. The newest software update and instrumentation sets have also significantly improved the workflow, providing a more intuitive interface for surgeons during the planning phase, to more streamlined steps when executing the surgical plan.”

According to Medtronic, Eiman Shafa completed his first minimally invasive TLIF with bilateral instrumentation using expandable interbody technology on a 36-year-old male with back and severe left lower extremity pain and progressive weakness. The company claims that the patient was observed overnight and discharged the morning after his surgery and the morning post-surgery, the patient’s radicular leg pain and motor examination had returned to normal.

“We want to congratulate each of these surgeons – and their patients – on successful procedures and recoveries,” said Linnea Burman (Minneapolis, USA), vice president and general manager, Enabling Technologies: Cranial & Spinal Technologies, which is reported as part of the Restorative Therapies Group at Medtronic. “We continuously strive to improve the robotic surgery field, and hearing about these great success stories and how these patients’ lives have been affected gives our team more motivation to achieve the next level of advancement.”


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