Review - Sino-German Gloabl Webcast on Robotic-assisted Spine Surgery

On June 11th, the Sino-German Gloabl Webcast on Robotic-assisted Spine Surgery was grandly held at the Affiliated Hospital of Putian University with more than 70,000 online viewers, which was equipped with simultaneous translation and promoted on the events-notice website of AO Spine.

During the webcast, spine specialists from China and Germany shared and exchanged their own experience of robotic-assisted spine surgery. Dr. Schnake, Chair of the Center for Spinal and Scoliosis Therapy, Malteser Waldkrankenhaus St. Marien and Chair Elect of AO Spine Knowledge Forum Trauma, was invited to share his experience in this regard.

According to the literature review, with the assistance of the robot, the accuracy and safety of pedicle screw placement increased, the complication rates decreased significantly, and the radiation time and dosis reduced significantly compared with the free-hand technique. Dr. Schnake and his team adopted the Mazor robotic system in April 2021, since then 24 robotic-assisted surgeries have been performed. In his preliminary conclusion, after 24 surgeries, 5 surgeons are still on the learning curve, but remarkable progress has been made with workflow and handling. Currently, the used time per screw with Mazor is longer than the standard technique. But they find it much easier to insert screw assisted by the robotic system in difficult anatomic situations such as S2-Ala-Ilium, thoracic vertebras, rotated vertebras (in deformity) and revisions.

Prof. LIN Hai-bin, the Chief Secretary of Party Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Putian University, performed a live spine surgery assisted by “Tianji”robotic system with his team. The surgery was performed with high accuracy and a smooth process following a fined pre-operative planning.

Prof. DAI Jian-hui, the Chief of the Department of the Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery delivered a talk titled “Assistance of ‘Tianji’Orthopedic Robot Combining Microscope Applied in Spine Surgery”.

According to the introduction, the Tianji Orthopedic Robot consists of the robot arm, optical tracking device, surgical planning, and control workstation. The system is applicable in surgeries  of cervical vertebra, thoracic vertebra, lumbar vertebra, sacrum vertebra, pelvis and trauma of extremities, which provides precise positioning, shorter radiation time, smaller incision... The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University adopted Tianji System at the end of 2020 and has performed nearly 100 robotic-assisted orthopedic surgeries.

The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University is a Grade 3 Class A comprehensive hospital integrating medical treatment, teaching, scientific research, first aid, disease prevention, rehabilitation with a long history of 125 years. The Dept. of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery of it is the Provincial Key Specialty and Clinical Research Center of Fujian Province. In May 2019, the hospital was certified as the National Joint Medical Institution of Orthopedic Robot Application. In December 2019, the hospital introduce internationally renowned spine specialist Dr. Schnake as their visiting professor and jointly established the first Sino-German Communication Center for Spine in the Fujian Province.

In recent years, the Affiliated Hospital of Putian University has held more than 100 provincial, national and international academic events such as the Sino-German Global Webcast on Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, the Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Summit Forum of Chinese Medical Doctor Association. In 2021, the hospital was certified as one of the four provincial regional medical centers in the Fujian Province invested by the provincial government by two phases with a total investment of 4.4 billion RMB Yuan, which would lay a good foundation on the endeavour to be a nationally and internationally prestigious hospital.