Press Releases

ORLANDO, Fla., July 15, 2013 – According to current studies, over 50 percent of Germans see a doctor at least once in their lives due to back pain. Luckily, not all spine conditions require surgery, but many in Germany have chosen University Medical Center Mainz for their procedure to be performed with Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System – state-of-the-art technology for spine surgery.

“From October 2011 through the end of January 2013, we performed surgery on 118 patients using [Renaissance],” explained Prof. Dr. Sven Kantelhardt, Chief Senior Physician of the Neurosurgery Department. “More than 590 screws were implanted in the lumbar and lower thoracic spine with a minimally-invasive procedure using small incisions and 99 percent of the screws were positioned as planned and expected.”

When a condition such as osteoporosis, deterioration, congenital defects, spinal deformity, scoliosis or a traumatic accident causes instability in the spine, spinal fusion is a widely-used technique to correct the condition and stabilize the spine. Spinal fusion includes joining two or more vertebrae together using screws.

“[Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System] enables highly-precise screw placement, making spinal surgery even safer,” said Prof. Dr. Alf Giese, Director of the Neurosurgery Department. “[Renaissance] enables minimally-invasive interventions to be performed without open surgical presentation of the spinal column structure, and with the same precision as traditional procedures. Access by means of small incisions, which can be used routinely for almost all patients, is much gentler on patients than an ‘open’ intervention. Patients require less pain medication, show better wound healing and recover faster.”

Prior to the surgery, surgeons upload CT scans of the patient to Renaissance’s 3D planning software to create an optimized surgical plan based on the patient’s anatomy and diagnosis. In the operating room, the x-ray images are compared with the prior CT scans until a match is achieved. Renaissance determines where the implants or screws should be placed according to the predetermined plan and guides the surgeon to the precise trajectory. The surgeon is still in full control during the operation.