Finally…surgeons can achieve x-ray vision—courtesy of an Israeli company with an augmented-reality (AR) surgical navigation system.
The company, Augmedics, is reporting on the completion of its second cadaver study using its xvision-spine system (XVS). Surgeons from Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as two surgeons from hospitals in Israel, placed 120 pedicle screws in five separate cadavers with screw placement accuracy of 96.7% when employing the combined Heary-Gertzbein grading scheme.
According to the company, “Augmedics’ xvision spine system (XVS) is an augmented-reality surgical navigation system designed to give surgeons ‘X-ray vision’ during complex procedures.”
“With xvision, surgeons can see and navigate inside a patient’s body through skin and tissue, for easier, faster and safer surgeries. The system has a transparent near-eye-display headset and all the elements of traditional navigation systems.”
“It accurately determines the position of surgical tools, in real-time, and superimposes them on patient’s CT data. The navigation data is then projected onto the surgeons’ retina using the transparent near-eye-display headset, allowing surgeons to simultaneously look at their patient and see the navigation data without averting their eyes to a remote screen.”
Dr. Timothy Witham, professor of neurological surgery and orthopaedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said, “Typically what we have to do during minimally-invasive spine surgery is we have to look away from where we’re working. But xvision has all the image-guided information directly in front of you in the goggles you’re wearing, while you’re placing the instrumentation.”
“We are thrilled to partner with esteemed neurosurgeons from Johns Hopkins Hospital on this second cadaver study,” said Nissan Elimelech, CEO of Augmedics. “The results of the study indicate that xvision-spine has the potential to deliver positive, precise results, and provide real-time information in a comfortable and intuitive manner. We believe that this study lends unparalleled credibility to xvision-spine and its ability to help surgeons navigate safely in surgery while always looking at their patient.”
“xvision was pretty fancy when I first saw it because it was the first time you could really see three-dimensionally through a phantom or fake spine,” said Dr. Daniel Sciubba, professor of neurological surgery, oncology and orthopaedic surgery, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“If we can increase the information we gather, this is all going to lead to efficiency, this is going to lead to better outcomes, and it is going to lead to better safety,” continued Sciubba. “If we take this technology at face value right now, it’s a game changer.”
