7 Spine Surgeons Answer – Would You Consider Using Robotic Technology in the or if Cost Were Not an Obstacle?

Posted on | January 26, 2012 | 1 Comment

 

 

7 Spine Surgeons on Using Robotic Technology (Laura Miller @ Beckers)

Q: Would you consider using robotic technology in the OR if cost weren’t an obstacle?

Dennis Crandall, MD (Medical Director, Sonoran Spine Center, Mesa, Ariz.): Because of the precise tension or retraction tolerated on neural structures, I would be very hesitant to allow a robot to do that. Muscle retraction and other tasks seem more practical. Screw placement is a possibility if the tolerances can be certain and very fine.

Ara Deukmedjian, MD (Founder, Deuk Spine Institute, Melbourne, Fla.): Robotics may play a role in future spine care if payors allow it to. Health insurers are constantly trying to develop new policies and coverage determinations that further restrict access to quality spine care. Every stakeholder in healthcare is losing ground except the insurers because every new policy they adopt further restricts access to established treatments and thwarts new technology.

Insurers routinely refuse to cover new technology, for example artificial spinal discs were FDA approved years ago and there is ample evidence in peer reviewed journals that they are a safe and effective treatment for a common spinal condition (discogenic pain) yet most insurers won’t cover the procedure because they are deemed “medically unnecessary or experimental” by the insurer (but not by spine surgeons, hospitals or patients). By denying the procedure the insurance company is guaranteed to keep more of their ever escalating premium dollars for themselves which leads to greater profits for the insurer but diminished healthcare delivered to the insured, which truly is the insurer’s modus operandi.

It is a shame that the very organizations that were created to facilitate delivery of quality medical care and new technology are now obstructing it and enriching themselves further with the adoption of endless new policies aimed at further denying care to patients in desperate need of help.

Michael Gleiber, MD (Founder, Michael A. Gleiber, MD, PA, Jupiter, Fla.): I believe a spine surgeon needs to depend on his or her hands, anatomic landmarks and intuition to perform any operation correctly. If cost were not an obstacle, I still would rely on my surgical skill rather than use robotic guidance on routine cases. In areas of extreme deformity or severe trauma, I believe there is a role for guidance.

Purnendu Gupta, MD (Medical Director—Chicago Spine Center at Weiss Memorial Hospital, Associate Professor of Surgery in Orthopedics and Rehabilitation—University of Chicago): Unfortunately, cost is a huge issue right now, even for the technology we currently have. We are just at the point where the development of current technology may be stunted going into the future. One of the things that limited robotics in the past was image guidance. Now technology has advanced so we are seeing additional benefits in our practice. I think there will be some advantage to robotics for spine surgery in the future, but I don’t know exactly where the impact will be or if it will add the same value as it has in other specialties, such as cardiology.

Read all answers at Beckers 

Category: Robotics

Comments

One Response to “7 Spine Surgeons Answer – Would You Consider Using Robotic Technology in the or if Cost Were Not an Obstacle?”

  1. knee pain symptoms
    May 6th, 2012 @ 2:07 pm

    knee pain symptoms…

    Robotics :…

Leave a Reply





CAPTCHA Image
*

May 18, 2012

  • Newsletter Signup

  • Orthopedic Recruiting

    Now Hiring: Product Development Engineer - Memphis, TN

     

  • Editor – Tiger Buford

     


  •  

  • most popular this week

  • Monthly Articles

  • RSS Orthopedics This Week

  • RSS MedPageToday

  • Support OrthoStreams

  • Book of the Month