First in Israel: Hadassah surgeons use spine robot

Surgeons at the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem recently performed corrective spine surgery with Medtronic’s Stealth AXiS Surgical System, the first time the new-generation robot has been used in Israel and one of only a handful of times it has been used anywhere in the world.

The first patient, an 18-year-old woman with severe scoliosis, was pain-free, walking with a straight back and back at home less than a week after the five-hour operation.

“Our use of the Medtronic robot shows that our spine surgery center is one of the most advanced in the world and that the Hadassah Medical Organization is at the forefront of medical technology,” said Dr. Joshua Schroeder, Hadassah’s director of spine surgery, who led the surgical team.

The Stealth AXiS platform combines artificial intelligence, surgical planning and high-precision navigation. According to Hadassah, it allows surgeons to reach all areas of the spine with a wider working range and far greater accuracy than earlier generations of surgical robots.

The patient was diagnosed with scoliosis at 11. Her curvature was so complex and severe that her shoulders had developed unevenly and one side of her back had become higher than the other. Surgery had to be postponed for seven years, until her bones were strong and stable enough for the procedure.

To prepare for the operation, Schroeder and his team traveled to Medtronic’s training center in Switzerland, where they trained on the Stealth AXiS robot in a laboratory that simulates operating room conditions.

Schroeder was assisted by senior spine surgeon Dr. Sasha Satanovsky; anesthesiologists Dr. Petr Mouryc and Dr. Anna Shapiro; X-ray technician Fuad Abo Leil; and operating room nurses Mohamad Konvar and Mohammad Faroukh.

Reported by Hadassah.