The worldwide market for spinal surgical robots is $26 million anticipated to reach $2.77 billon by 2022 (wintergreenresearch.com).Worldwide spinal surgical robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth with the adaptation of robotic technology to the second most widely performed surgical procedure, spinal surgery.Mazor until now is the market leader in the spinal surgical robot market, but there are more and more companies entering into this robotic market .Which are the main 14 Surgical Robots for Spine?
Aging of the population and hospital cost reductions through decreased length of stay are key market driving forces. Spinal surgical robots increase spine surgery repeatability and accuracy.In the United States, there are 1.34 million spinal operations performed annually, worldwide there are 4.83 million annually. Patients have problems with degenerative conditions and injury. 11 million people in the U.S. and 78 million people worldwide suffer from chronic back pain in 2015, indicating the potential for more surgery if the accuracy and pain relief can be alleviated with better surgery from robots.
Robot-guidance increases the accuracy and safety of surgical procedures. It allows these procedures to be performed with less intra-operative radiation exposure to patients and health care providers. Robot-guided spine surgery allows surgeons to perform less invasive surgical procedures with smaller incisions, less bleeding, faster recovery and shorter hospital stays. Minimally invasive surgeries to increase repeatability and accuracy through the use of robots. Surgical robots improve the accuracy of procedures and thus reduce the complication rates in surgeries. Robotic procedures offer significant cost savings in terms of pre- and post-operation care costs and length of stay at hospitals. Technological advances and breakthroughs leverage new materials and new sensor configurations. Sophisticated software is further evolving product implementation.
“For robotics to be truly revolutionary in spine surgery, it must allow surgeons to alter what they currently do, as well as fundamentally change how spine disease is addressed and foster new ways of managing it. This is the only way robotics will depart from being a mere marketing advantage and transform how surgeons approach spine patients in the future.” Once improvements occur in navigation that help surgeons better identify soft tissue structures, this will help transition robotics to assist in how we perform surgeries today. For example, using navigation to identify the lumbar plexus and vascular structures will help transform how anterior and lateral lumbar and thoracic interbody fusion (IF) approaches are performed. Laparoscopic approaches may see a resurgence in popularity, appearing in the surgeon’s armamentarium to help safely and effectively access anterior lumbar interbody spaces or resect pre-vertebral tumors. MIS lateral lumbar IF also can benefit from a surgical approach that involves the triad of MIS, navigation and robotics. Previously difficult areas for MIS fusion, such as the upper cervical and sub-axis cervical regions, can be improved upon with help from navigation and robotic technology. This will allow new types of surgery to develop and, coupled with other advancements, the most difficult spinal deformity and tumor surgeries may be tackled utilizing this triad of techniques. (John C. Liu, MD Chief Medical Editor, Neurosurgery for Spine Surgery Today).