SPINEA® in spinal surgery

     SPINEA® reduction gears have been successfully applied in the spinal surgery robots. It is a new, revolutionary method of surgical intervention performed with higher preciseness and safety than ever before. Robot performs here as an auxiliary solid hand of a surgeon. With positioning accuracy in hundredths of millimeter, robotic arm increases surgical intervention accuracy several fold. Such high accuracy is required during drilling of holes for screws serving to spinal vertebrae fixation, since an inaccurate movement or position of a surgical instrument could result in the damage to spinal cord.

      Surgery performed upon the robotic arm assistance differs from the standard surgical intervention. After a pre-operative scan of the patient's spine, the surgeon defines all the steps to be performed during the surgery in a simple way on the computer using a 3D model of the spine. During surgery, the robotic arm then serves as a navigation system that guides the surgeon to the location where to perform the procedure. The robotic arm then automatically moves step-by-step to the required positions, fixes the position and holds the instrument that the surgeon uses during the operation.

     In this way the robotic arm eliminates the human factor, be it tremors in hands or faulty motion of instrument. Time of surgical intervention by robotic arm is much shorter than in case of standard method applied. Medical staff is exposed to X-ray radiation less and the intervention is invasive only to the minimum required extent. During the surgery, the patient loses far less blood; post-surgery pain is lower and recovery time is much shorter. 

     Reduction gears represent the key component determining the surgical robot features. SPINEA® reduction gears have extremely high torsional and tilting stiffness, ensuring that the robotic arm can firmly and steadily work in required position. High precision of SPINEA® gearing mechanism used in particular robot joints provides for overall preciseness of the end robot component position where the surgical instruments is affixed to. Small dimensions of the gearbox body together with integrated radial-axial bearing and high gear ratio allow for compact robotic arm design while minimizing its spatial size. Safety and high reliability of SPINEA® gears, verified by long- term testing in high dynamic cycles highly exceeding real requirements laid on the surgical robot segment, represent another significant factor. Low noise rate of gears and their zero maintenance demand is highly appreciated in the surgical theaters where the robots are installed.

      Robots with SPINEA® reduction gears have properties that predetermine them to the use not only in the spinal surgery, but also in microsurgery where high preciseness is required, as well as in orthopedic surgery with required high stiffness. These robots meet very strict criterions defined in FDA standards. They are installed in the most prestigious clinics across the USA and the Western Europe.