PITTSBURGH (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Spine surgery is one of the most
delicate operations. Accuracy is critical, but even in the hands of the most
skilled surgeons, screws can be misplaced up to 40 percent of the time.
Doctors are pioneering a new procedure that eliminates the guesswork.
Imagine a global positioning system that works inside the human body.
Surgeons say they are now able to achieve the same kind of pinpoint accuracy
for back patients.
"Here's bone meeting bone pinching nerve, and it was killing me!" Chantai
Adams, who underwent spine surgery, told Ivanhoe.
Thirty-two-year-old Adams had a spinal fusion to relieve the pain. Doctors
used tiny surgical screws and hardware to link a portion of her vertebrae
together, eliminating any movement. It's a very common procedure but one
that doctors admit is not always perfect.
"In an ideal world, where you're doing day-to-day surgery, your misplacement
rate is probably in the order of 10 percent," Richard Spiro, M.D., a
neurosurgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh,
Pa., told Ivanhoe.
In very complicated cases, experts say surgical screws can be misplaced up
to 40 percent of the time. Dr. Spiro is pioneering a procedure that guides
the screw placement. Doctors take a scan of the spine, creating a 3-D image.
Cameras in the operating room communicate with transmitters on the tips of
surgical tools. A computer monitors the movement.
"Then we're able to place the hardware based on that real-time information,
just like a GPS gives you when you're trying to make decisions about whether
to turn right or turn left," Dr. Spiro said. "We're doing the same thing."
With this system, doctors say they are accurate within 1 millimeter, meaning
fewer complications for patients -- and for some, a faster recovery. It's
helping put patients like Adams back in the driver's seat.
After more than 100 surgeries, Dr. Spiro says surgeons using the system have
a perfect accuracy rate.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Gloria Kreps
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
(412) 647-3555
