Augmented reality and robot-assisted spine surgery both yielded high precision in pedicle screw placement, a study out of New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery found.
The study included 212 adult spine surgery patients who had a total 1,211 pedicle screws placed with either robotics or augmented reality, according to a Dec. 6 news release. They had surgery between June 2020 and October 2023.
Researchers evaluated the position of each screw and used the Gertzbein-Robbins classification system, which assigns a grade of A, B, C or D, to label accuracy. There wasn't any significant difference in accuracy between robotic navigation and AR screw placement.
"Our results confirmed excellent accuracy for both techniques, making both robotics and AR safe tools for accurate positioning of lumbosacral pedicle screws," Darren Lebl, MD, the study's lead investigator said in the release. "However, a higher rate of Grade A screws was seen in the RAN group, potentially highlighting superior precision for robotics."
The findings were published in Spine.