During a featured session at Becker's 21st Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC +The Future of Spine Conference, Jeff Wertz, strategic advisory with the spine surgery technology company PathKeeper Surgical, moderated a panel about the future of spine surgery. Panelists included Alpesh Patel, MD, co-director of the Northwestern Center for Spine Health in Chicago, and Erez Lampert, CEO and founder of PathKeeper Surgical.
Here are five takeaways from the discussion:
Note: Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
1. PathKeeper Surgical offers a unique and differentiated platform for spine surgery designed to support the best clinical results for surgeons and patients.
"We wanted to create a surgical navigation platform that would allow every spine surgeon in every part of the world access to something that is accurate, radiation-free, but also cheap or relatively low cost and mobile." - Erez Lampert
2. The three pillars of PathKeeper Surgical's technology design are safety, cost-effectiveness and continuous imaging capabilities.
"What our technology can do for the surgeons and their patients is improve safety by removing imaging-associated radiation from the operating room and improving accuracy by really tracking the anatomy of the patient." - Erez Lampert
3. Navigation systems have faced limitations in accuracy and reliability, leading to low adoption rates in ASCs.
"We've invested heavily in a lot of very big, bulky, expensive capital that comes in with lots of promises and then sits in the corner gathering dust." - Dr. Alpesh Patel
4. PathKeeper's compact and mobile system, along with its implant agnostic approach, makes it a suitable option for ASCs.
"If you have a small mobile system that you can move from one place to another, ASCs don't need to invest in as many additional platforms." - Erez Lampert
5. The open system and flexibility of PathKeeper Surgical allow surgeons to have more choice and control over their surgical procedures
"Not being tied or tethered to a single implant manufacturer gives you flexibility, and I value choice and flexibility as a surgeon." - Dr. Alpesh Patel