What are the advantages of using an orthopedic surgical navigation system to assist in surgery (more accurate, safer)?

 With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, robot-assisted surgery has advanced rapidly in the field of surgery. The orthopedic surgical navigation system, also known as the orthopedic surgery robot, is designed to utilize preoperative/intraoperative imaging data to plan the surgical path and guide the surgeon to complete the surgery along the planned path using the guidance of the robotic arm. This system simplifies and standardizes complex surgeries, providing surgeons with greater operating space and more accurate anatomical layers, ensuring the successful completion of complex surgeries in confined spaces.

What are the benefits of orthopedic surgical navigation systems for patients?

First, it is important to clarify that in robotic surgery, the robot performs auxiliary operations during the surgery. Based on three-dimensional data obtained from imaging scans like the 3D C-arm, the robotic system uses surgical planning software to guide the surgeon through visual pre-surgical planning (such as planning the screw path and insertion angle), selecting the appropriate screw specifications and sizes, and assisting in evaluating and timely adjusting the surgical path planning. The entire surgery is performed under the control of the lead surgeon. The orthopedic surgical navigation system not only enhances the reliability of the surgery but also improves safety with its precise robotic arm, force sensing recognition, and real-time dynamic tracking technologies, thereby increasing the accuracy and safety of the surgery.

Additionally, using an orthopedic surgical navigation system reduces radiation exposure for both medical staff and patients. In conventional surgeries, surgeons need to rely on extensive intraoperative fluoroscopy to ensure the accurate placement of implants. In contrast, using an orthopedic surgical navigation system typically requires only three fluoroscopies (preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative), significantly reducing radiation exposure.

The prerequisite for the orthopedic surgical navigation system to locate surgical tools is to let the robot know the spatial position of the surgical path, a process known as robot registration. Registration involves aligning the spatial positions of different images of the same object. This process calculates the mapping relationship between the robot’s working space and the patient’s space.

To ensure surgical safety and accuracy, the registration error of the orthopedic surgical navigation system must be within 0.5 mm. High-precision robot registration involves the design of the ruler (i.e., calibration target) structure and spatial positioning algorithms, and it needs to overcome challenges such as patient movement during surgery, mechanical processing errors, and sensor accuracy drift.

Currently, in orthopedic surgeries, such as vertebroplasty, the orthopedic surgical navigation system assists in the operation. To ensure the robot’s movement matches the patient’s vertebral position, registration is required. Traditional registration methods need third-party instruments, involving manual installation of the ruler during the registration phase, as shown below. This process is cumbersome and highly dependent on image quality, affecting registration accuracy when the image quality is poor.

Perlove Medical’s orthopedic surgical navigation system employs an integrated adaptive registration technology. Simply put, the ruler (i.e., calibration target) is installed on the C-arm, and the system automatically completes the registration process by tracking and matching the real-time acquired motion trajectory with the preset trajectory without being limited by image quality.

Perlove Medical’s orthopedic surgical robot, paired with its self-developed flat-panel 3D C-arm, utilizes integrated adaptive registration technology to achieve automatic registration and calibration. It automatically establishes the optical measurement instrument, patient, and image coordinates without manual intervention, and its precision is not affected by image quality. The robot then completes the path with high freedom and stability through the robotic arm operation, and evaluates the completion and important mechanical parameters in real time during the surgery, ensuring the accuracy and rationalization of orthopedic surgery, improving surgical success rates, reducing complications, and minimizing X-ray radiation.

Many might wonder: Why use a robot? Many doctors can perform well without one. However, the same procedure might have variations in technique and experience among different surgeons. Highly experienced senior doctors can perform surgeries beautifully without a robot due to years of practice and experience. For younger, less experienced doctors, using an orthopedic surgical navigation system standardizes the critical steps of the surgical process, allowing them to achieve high-level results and reducing the uncertainties caused by lack of experience. In summary, a surgical robot is an advanced tool that frees the surgeon’s eyes and hands, making surgery more efficient and confident.