Kevin J. McGuire, M.D., M.S., section chief of orthopedic spine surgery at the Center for Pain and Spine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, has performed the first lumbar fusion procedure using Medacta International’s M.U.S.T. Pedicle Screw System and NextAR Spine, the company’s augmented reality-based surgical application.
First Spine Surgery Performed With Medacta’s Augmented Reality App
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#spinesurgery#medactaSecondary#augmentedrealityapplication
NextAR, is the first CE-marked and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared augmented reality-based surgical application with intraoperative guidance for spine surgery, according to Medacta.
The augmented reality surgical platform comes with the single-use NextAR TS Tracking System and NextAR Smart Glasses which provides guidance on the surgeon’s line-of-sight.
“While utilizing the 3D Direct option, I was able to seamlessly register the NextAR Platform to my intraoperative 3D scan, accurately place the pedicle screws, and enjoy the ability to keep my eyes on my patient the entire time using the NextAR Smart Glasses,” said McGuire.
“Implementing the NextAR Platform didn’t compromise any of my current workflow and actually worked better than I anticipated.”
The augmented reality app helps the surgeon precisely locate the patient’s anatomical structure for the safe placement of spine implants in either open, mini-open, or percutaneous spine surgeries. The system provides 3D x-ray images, such as 3D C-Arm or 3D CT scan to continuously update its position. It allows the surgeon to choose among real-time (3D Direct) and preoperative planning (3D-3D) approaches to plan and successfully complete spine surgeries, the company says.
Because the patient-specific data is superimposed onto the operative field via the smart glasses, the surgeon is able to make personalized adjustments based each patient’s anatomy and biomechanics.
NextAR is part of Medacta’s MySolutions Personalized Ecosystem which includes digital solutions for improving outcomes and healthcare efficiency. It can be used for both joint replacement and spine surgeries. The platform is offered as a hardware system with single-use instrumentation at a low per-case cost.
For more information about NextAR and the entire subject of Augmented Reality in surgery please view OTW Broadcasting’s Master Class on this subject.
Medacta International is a Swiss company that develops, manufactures, and distributes orthopedic and neurosurgical medical devices worldwide.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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