HCA Florida Northside Hospital celebrates 50th augmented reality guided spine surgery

HCA Florida Northside Hospital celebrated its 50^th augmented reality guided spine surgery, a milestone in the hospital’s use of advanced surgical methods. The groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) guidance system allows surgeons to “see through” a patient’s anatomy as if they have “x-ray vision.” Similar to a real-time GPS, this “see-through” technology lets surgeons know where to place implants in a patient’s unique anatomy, bringing a new standard of personalization and care to the operating room. The new technology is unique in allowing surgeons to maintain their focus directly on the patient, rather than on a distant screen displaying the patient’s anatomy.

“This innovative system provides me with peace of mind while placing pedicle screws safely and accurately.  It also allows me to correctly visualize and measure the correct size screws that need to be place for each individual patient. We can do all this while minimizing radiation exposure to the patient and the OR staff,” stated Dr. Thomas Nienke, Orthopedic Surgeon.

The spine system consists of a transparent near-eye-display headset and all elements of a traditional navigation system. It accurately determines the position of surgical tools, in real-time, and superimposes them on the patient's CT data. The navigation data is then projected allowing the surgeon to simultaneously look at both the patient and the navigation data.