Robotic Spine Surgery Explained | Dr. Kris Radcliff

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Robotic Spine Surgery: What Robots Do and Don’t Do

Many patients ask whether their spine surgery will be done with a robot. Dr. Kris Radcliff is trained on two of the leading spine robotic systems, Globus ExcelsiusGPS and Medtronic Mazor. Here is a plain-English explanation of what these systems do, and what they do not do.

What does a spine robot do?

In spine surgery, the robot is a guidance tool, mainly for placing screws. Before or during surgery, a 3D scan of your spine is taken. The surgeon plans the exact path and size of each screw on the computer. During surgery, a robotic arm holds a guide precisely along that planned path, and navigation cameras show the surgeon the position of the instruments in real time. The surgeon still performs the operation.

What a robot does not do

Today’s spine robots do not perform the operation on their own. Removing bone and disc, freeing pinched nerves, and placing implants between the vertebrae are still done by the surgeon’s hands. As Dr. Radcliff puts it, the robot is a valuable tool for placing screws, but it does not currently do the other parts of the surgery.

Dr. Radcliff operates at Hudson Regional Medical Center, now known as Secaucus University Hospital, where spine surgeons were the first in the tri-state area to use ExcelsiusGPS and whose robotic spine program is recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Surgical Review Corporation.

Potential benefits

Precise, pre-planned screw placement
Smaller incisions in minimally invasive fusion
Less X-ray exposure for the surgical team in some cases

Dr. Radcliff has co-authored research comparing robotic and freehand screw placement in lumbar fusion (study).

Do I need robotic surgery?

Robotic guidance is used when screws are needed, such as in some fusions. Many of the operations Dr. Radcliff performs do not use screws at all, including endoscopic spine surgery, microdiscectomy and artificial disc replacement. The best operation is the one that fits your problem, whether or not a robot is involved.

Call 609-800-3472, book online, or send your MRI for a review.

This page is general education and not medical advice.