Decreasing the Pedicle Screw Misplacement Rate in the Thoracic Spine With Robot-guided Navigation.

Study Design: A retrospective chart review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the screw accuracy of thoracic pedicle screws placed with a robot-guided navigation system.

Summary Of Background Data: Thoracic pedicles are smaller in diameter than lumbar pedicles, making pedicle screw placement difficult.

Inhibition of astrocyte hemichannel improves recovery from spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes severe disability, and the current inability to restore function to the damaged spinal cord leads to lasting detrimental consequences to patients. One strategy to reduce SCI morbidity involves limiting the spread of secondary damage after injury. Previous studies have shown that connexin 43 (Cx43), a gap junction protein richly expressed in spinal cord astrocytes, is a potential mediator of secondary damage.

Navigated robotic assistance improves pedicle screw accuracy in minimally invasive surgery of the lumbosacral spine: 600 pedicle screws in a single institution.

Background: In the emerging field of robot-assisted spine surgery, radiographic evaluation of pedicle screw accuracy in the surgical setting is of high interest. Advances in medical imaging have improved the accuracy of pedicle screw placement, from fluoroscopy-guided to computer-aided navigation.

Methods: A retrospective, institutional review board-exempt review of the first 106 navigated robot-assisted spine surgery cases was performed.

Does the accuracy of pedicle screw placement differ between the attending surgeon and resident in navigated robotic-assisted minimally invasive spine surgery?

Robotic assistance with integrated navigation is an area of high interest for improving the accuracy of minimally invasive pedicle screw placement. This study analyzes the accuracy of pedicle screw placement between an attending spine surgeon and a resident by comparing the left and right sides of the first 101 consecutive cases using navigated robotic assistance in a private practice clinical setting. A retrospective, Institutional Review Board-exempt review of the first 106 navigated robot-assisted spine surgery cases was performed.

Navigated robotic assisted thoracic pedicle screw placement for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

A 63-year-old man presented with progressive lower-extremity paresis over the previous 3 months. He had been unable to support himself to ambulate over the previous 3 weeks. The patient was found to have metastatic renal cell carcinoma to T11.