Reduction in complication and revision rates for robotic-guided short-segment lumbar fusion surgery: results of a prospective, multi-center study.

Studies evaluating robotic guidance in lumbar fusion are limited primarily to evaluation of screw accuracy and perioperative complications. This is the first study to evaluate granular differences in short and long-term complication and revision rate profiles between robotic (RG) fluoroscopic (FG) guidance for minimally invasive short-segment lumbar fusions. A retrospective analysis of a prospective, multi-center database was performed. Complications were subdivided into surgical (further subcategorized into adjacent segment disease, new-onset back pain, radiculopathy, motor-deficit, hardware failure, pseudoarthrosis), wound, and medical complications. Complication and revision rates were compared between RG and FG groups cumulatively at 30, 90 days, and 1 year. 374 RG and 111 FG procedures were performed. RG was associated with an 86.25, 83.20, and 69.42% cumulative reduction in complication rate at 30, 90 days, and 1 year, respectively, compared to FG (p < 0.001). At all follow-up points, new-onset radiculopathy and medical complications were most prevalent in both groups. The greatest reductions in complication rates were seen for new-onset back pain (88.13%; p = 0.001) and wound complications (95.05%; p < 0.001) at 30 days, new-onset motor deficits (90.11%; p = 0.004) and wound complications (85.16%; p < 0.001) at 90 days, and new-onset motor deficits (85.16%; p = 0.002), wound (85.16%; p < 0.001), and medical complications (75.72%; p < 0.001) at 1 year. RG was associated with a 92.58% (p = 0.002) reduction in revision rate at 90 days and a 66.08% (p = 0.026) reduction at 1 year. RG was associated with significant reductions in postoperative complication rates at all follow-up time points and significant reductions in revision rates at 90 days and 1 year.

Fluoroscopy time analysis of a prospective, multi-centre study comparing robotic- and fluoroscopic-guided placement of percutaneous pedicle screw instrumentation for short segment minimally invasive lumbar fusion surgery.

BACKGROUND: As minimally invasive spine surgery becomes more widespread, concerns regarding radiation exposure to surgeons and patients alike have become a growing concern. Robotic guidance has been developed as a way to increase the accuracy of instrumentation while decreasing radiation burden. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of a large, multi-centre, prospective study comparing robotic-guided (RG) to fluoroscopic-guided (FG) (Multi-centre, Partially Randomized, Controlled Trial of MIS Robotic vs. Freehand in Short Adult Degenerative Spinal Fusion Surgeries) was performed to evaluate for differences in radiation exposure between study groups. RESULTS: RG was associated with 78.3% (p < 0.001) and 79.8% (p < 0.001) reduction in total and per screw fluoroscopy times, respectively, as compared to FG. RG was also associated with a 50.8% (p < 0.001) reduction in total operative fluoroscopy time. CONCLUSIONS: RG was associated with significantly lower fluoroscopy times compared to FG. This suggests that utilization of robotic navigation systems may result in decreased operative radiation exposure, which is a growing concern for surgeons performing minimally invasive spine surgery.