RoboticSpine-MD

Dr. Gum is an international leader in minimally invasive spinal surgery and has helped develop one of the first robotic spine surgery systems, the Mazor X Stealth Robotic System. 

 

Dr. Gum specializes in pediatric scoliosis and helps recommend to his patients a selective fusion of strategic levels, to optimize the correction, yet leave mobility in the remainder of the spine and use robotic technology to improve the efficiency and precision of the procedure.  

 

Using robotic technology during spine surgery affords several benefits to the patient including improved accuracy, less operating time, less exposure to radiation via x-rays, and a less invasive surgical approach.  “Robotic technology shows me exactly where I want to put the screws, and it allows me to be very proficient and precise during surgery,” -- Dr. Gum

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Before surgery, the robot’s advanced software allows Dr. Gum to create a “surgical blueprint” based off a 3D pre-operative computed tomography (CT) scan of the patient’s spine. He can plan exactly where to place spinal implants (like screws and rods), cut bone, and decompress spinal nerves. This ability to plan every detail of the surgery ahead of time allows the surgery to be more efficient and precise during the actual surgery.

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While robotic technology helps make the spine surgery more efficient and accurate, it’s important to understand that the robot is not actually performing the surgery.  “The robot facilitates the surgery—it helps me be more precise and more efficient because of the pre-operative planning of what we’re doing,” Dr. Gum shares. “The surgeon is still doing the surgery, just more efficiently.”

 

During a selective spinal fusion, Dr. Gum uses a small incision to avoid unnecessarily disrupting spinal muscles and other tissue. Spinal fusion surgery usually requires implanting spinal instrumentation to support the spine during the fusion process. IDr. Gum uses screws and rods to correct the abnormal spine curve.

 

Dr. Gum then uses bone graft to stimulate bone growth to facilitate new bone growth necessary to fuse multiple spinal bones into a single bone. This fusion of multiple bones into one stabilizes the spine and keeps that part of the spine from moving or curving.  While precision and efficiency benefit the surgeon, robotic spine surgery also delivers several benefits for the patient.

 

Compared to traditional spine surgery techniques, this minimally invasive technology:

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• Cuts infection risk

• Reduces post-surgery pain

• Boasts fewer complications

• Lowers radiation exposure during the procedure

• Has shorter hospital stays

• Has faster recovery times