TiRobot-assisted percutaneous kyphoplasty in the management of multilevel (more than three levels) osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture

Simulation and analysis of non-navigational errors in robot-assisted pedicle Kirschner wire placement surgery

BACKGROUND

Surgical errors of orthopedics robotic are influenced by a multitude of factors. This study aims to investigate the impact of non-navigational errors on the accuracy of pedicle screw placement in orthopedic surgery.

METHODS

Initially, a robot-assisted Kirschner wire (K-wire) placement simulation system was constructed, comprising a universal arm, wide-angle cameras, microscope cameras, and a vertebral base. Utilizing this system, we conducted a systematic analysis of the effects of four factors on non-navigational errors: operator habits, guide-to-bone surface distance, robotic arm stiffness, and vertebral fixation stiffness.We investigated two distinct operator habits: Habit 1 involves first positioning the K-wire against the bone surface through the guide and then inserting it using a bone drill; Habit 2 involves clamping the K-wire onto the bone drill and then inserting it together. Based on the control variable method, we designed precision measurement experiments for K-wire placement under different factors, forming 26 variable combinations to investigate the K-wire placement errors under each factor and their proportions in the overall error.

RESULTS

A total of 933 K-wire placements were performed in this study. The average deviation under Habit 2 conditions was 0.51 mm, compared to 0.13 mm under Habit 1 conditions; the average deviation was 0.36 mm when the guide-to-bone surface distance was 5 cm, and 0.28 mm when the distance was 1 cm; the average deviation was 0.36 mm under the 600 mm robotic arm condition, and 0.24 mm under the 500 mm robotic arm condition; the average deviation was 0.37 mm in the Plaster-Fixed Vertebra Group, and 0.85 mm in the Silicone-Fixed Vertebra Group.

CONCLUSIONS

Operator habits and vertebral fixation stiffness are the primary factors influencing non-navigational errors, while guide-to-bone surface distance and robotic arm stiffness are secondary factors. This study recommends adopting Habit 1 in clinical surgeries, minimizing the guide-to-bone surface distance, and enhancing the stiffness of the robotic arm and vertebral fixation to reduce non-navigational errors and improve the accuracy of robot-assisted pedicle screw placement.

Comparison of Unilateral and Bilateral Robot-Assisted Percutaneous Kyphoplasty in Treating Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fracture

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the efficacy and safety of unilateral and bilateral robot-assisted percutaneous kyphoplasty (RAPKP) in treating thoracolumbar osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.

METHODS

Our study retrospectively analyzed 78 patients (unilateral group: 48, bilateral group: 30) with osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture treated with RAPKP from January 2020 to July 2022. The operation time, X-ray exposure time, bone cement volume, postoperative bone cement distribution, preoperative and postoperative pain visual analog scale (VAS) scores, Oswestry Dysfunction Index (ODI), Cobb angle, vertebral height, bone cement leakage, adjacent vertebral fracture, and postoperative computed tomography (CT) in both groups were recorded.

RESULTS

All patients were successfully treated with RAPKP and followed up for 19.90 ± 5.38 months. Our results showed that the VAS core, ODI, vertebral height, and Cobb angle at postoperative follow-up were significantly improved in both groups compared to the preoperative period (P < 0.05). The operation time in the bilateral group (46.20 ± 6.89 minutes) was not statistically different from the unilateral group (42.54 ± 10.16 minutes) (P > 0.05), while the volume of bone cement injected was significantly more in the bilateral group (5.93 ± 1.81 mL) than in the unilateral group (4.73 ± 0.51 mL) (P < 0.05). In addition, the distribution of bone cement in the bilateral group was significantly better than that in the unilateral group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in X-ray exposure dose between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). Bone cement leaked in 9 cases (18.75%) in the unilateral group and 6 cases (20.00%) in the bilateral group (P > 0.05). No neurovascular injury or infection occurred. There were 8 cases (16.67%) of adjacent vertebral fracture in the unilateral group and 4 cases (13.33%) in the bilateral group (P > 0.05). Postoperative CT ratios of adjacent vertebrae (operated vertebra/upper adjacent vertebra: unilateral: 10.65 ± 2.7, bilateral: 11.32 ± 3.1; operated vertebra/lower adjacent vertebra: unilateral: 11.67 ± 3.0, bilateral: 12.48 ± 2.9) (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Unilateral or bilateral RAPKP improves patients' VAS, ODI, sagittal index, and Cobb angle. Unilateral RAPKP possesses the advantage of fewer puncture injuries. However, bilateral RAPKP has better postoperative cement distribution, and we believe that bilateral RAPKP has a better long-term prognosis, so we recommend bilateral RAPKP.

Safety and clinical efficacy of modified tracer fixation technique in orthopedic robot-assisted percutaneous vertebroplasty for Kümmell's disease

The rising incidence of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF) has increased the demand for precise treatments like robot-assisted percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), especially for conditions like Kümmell's disease that require high surgical accuracy. However, the traditional tracer fixation method has certain limitations. This study aimed to compare the safety and clinical efficacy of a modified tracer fixation technique with the traditional fixation method in robot-assisted percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) for Kümmell's disease. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 88 patients treated between April 2023 and January 2024. The patients were divided into two groups based on the tracer fixation method: the modified group (skin-fixed, 47 cases) and the traditional group (spinous process-fixed, 41 cases). Outcomes were measured by VAS, ODI, Cobb angle, working channel establishment time, surgical duration, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative fluoroscopy dose, and complication rates. Both groups showed significant improvements in VAS, ODI, and Cobb angle at postoperative days 2 and 6 months (P < 0.05). The modified group had significantly lower VAS and ODI scores on postoperative days 2, shorter working channel establishment and surgical duration, and less intraoperative blood loss (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found in intraoperative fluoroscopy dose or complication rates (P > 0.05). In conclusion, while both techniques are safe and effective, the modified skin-fixed tracer technique offers advantages in reducing surgical trauma, significantly shortening the surgical duration, decreasing intraoperative blood loss, and promoting early recovery.

Development of a software system for surgical robots based on multimodal image fusion: study protocol

Background

Surgical robots are gaining increasing popularity because of their capability to improve the precision of pedicle screw placement. However, current surgical robots rely on unimodal computed tomography (CT) images as baseline images, limiting their visualization to vertebral bone structures and excluding soft tissue structures such as intervertebral discs and nerves. This inherent limitation significantly restricts the applicability of surgical robots. To address this issue and further enhance the safety and accuracy of robot-assisted pedicle screw placement, this study will develop a software system for surgical robots based on multimodal image fusion. Such a system can extend the application range of surgical robots, such as surgical channel establishment, nerve decompression, and other related operations.

Methods

Initially, imaging data of the patients included in the study are collected. Professional workstations are employed to establish, train, validate, and optimize algorithms for vertebral bone segmentation in CT and magnetic resonance (MR) images, intervertebral disc segmentation in MR images, nerve segmentation in MR images, and registration fusion of CT and MR images. Subsequently, a spine application model containing independent modules for vertebrae, intervertebral discs, and nerves is constructed, and a software system for surgical robots based on multimodal image fusion is designed. Finally, the software system is clinically validated.

Discussion

We will develop a software system based on multimodal image fusion for surgical robots, which can be applied to surgical access establishment, nerve decompression, and other operations not only for robot-assisted nail placement. The development of this software system is important. First, it can improve the accuracy of pedicle screw placement, percutaneous vertebroplasty, percutaneous kyphoplasty, and other surgeries. Second, it can reduce the number of fluoroscopies, shorten the operation time, and reduce surgical complications. In addition, it would be helpful to expand the application range of surgical robots by providing key imaging data for surgical robots to realize surgical channel establishment, nerve decompression, and other operations.

Clinical effects of cocktail injection on the thoracolumbar fascia injury during percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: a single-center, retrospective case-control study

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, there is a lack of effective intraoperative treatment for thoracolumbar fascia injury (TFI) of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs), which may lead to postoperative residual pain. We aimed to evaluate the clinical effects of cocktail injection on the TFI during percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) for OVCFs.

METHODS

A retrospective study of OVCFs with TFI underwent PVP with cocktail injection (Cocktail group, 58 cases) or PVP (Routine group, 64 cases) was conducted. The surgical outcomes, visual analog scale (VAS) score, oswestry disability index (ODI), incidence of residual pain at 1 day and 7 days postoperatively, the rate and duration of taking painkillers during 7 days postoperatively after PVP were compared between them.

RESULTS

No differences in baseline data, volume of bone cement injected and bone cement leakage were observed between the two groups, while the operation time of the routine group (44.3 ± 7.8 min) was less than that (47.5 ± 9.1 min) of the cocktail group (P < 0.05). However, the VAS scores (2.4 ± 0.8, 2.2 ± 0.7), ODI (25.2 ± 4.2, 22.3 ± 2.9), the incidence of residual pain (8.6%, 3.4%) at 1 and 7 days postoperatively, the rate (6.9%) and duration ( 2.5 ± 0.6 ) of taking painkillers during 7 days postoperatively in the cocktail group were better than those (3.4 ± 1.0, 2.9 ± 0.7, 34.1 ± 4.7, 28.6 ± 3.6, 23.4%, 15.6%, 28.1%, 4.2 ± 1.4) in the routine group (P < 0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSION

PVP combined with cocktail injection increased the operation time in the treatment of OVCFs with TFI, but it can more effectively relieve pain, reduce the risk of residual pain at 1 day and 7 days postoperatively, and decrease the use and duration of taking painkillers.

Spine Surgical Robotics: Current Status and Recent Clinical Applications

With the development of artificial intelligence and the further deepening of medical-engineering integration, spine surgical robot-assisted (RA) technique has made significant progress and its applicability in clinical practice is constantly expanding in recent years. In this review, we have systematically summarized the majority of literature related to spine surgical robots in the past decade, and not only classified robots accordingly, but also summarized the latest research progress in RA technique for screw placement such as cervical, thoracic, and lumbar pedicle screws, cortical bone trajectory screws, cervical lateral mass screws, and S2 sacroiliac screws; guiding targeted puncture and placement of endoscope via the intervertebral foramen; complete resection of spinal tumor tissue; and decompressive laminectomy. In addition, this report also provides a detailed evaluation of RA technique's advantages and disadvantages, and clarifies the accuracy, safety, and practicality of RA technique. We consider that this review can help clinical physicians further understand and familiarize the current clinical application status of spine surgical robots, thereby promoting the continuous improvement and popularization of RA technique, and ultimately benefiting numerous patients.

Robot-Assisted Kyphoplasty versus Fluoroscopy-Assisted Kyphoplasty: A Meta-Analysis of Postoperative Outcomes

Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are the most common manifestation of osteoporosis. Percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) can lead to both pain improvement and correction of kyphosis secondary to collapsed vertebral bodies. Robot-assisted (RA) PKP has been reported to provide better vertebral body fracture correction than conventional fluoroscopy-assisted (FA) PKP. The aim of this meta-analysis is to compare clinical outcomes of RA PKP versus FA PKP. The Pubmed, Embase, and MEDLINE electronic databases were searched from January 1900 to December 2022, with no language restrictions for relevant articles. We extracted the preoperative and postoperative mean pain score and standard deviation from the included studies and pooled them using an inverse variance method. Statistical analyses were performed using functions available in the metafor package in R software. The results of this meta-analysis were summarized with weighted mean differences (WMDs). Our search strategy identified 181 references from the Pubmed, Embase, and MEDLINE electronic databases. We excluded duplicates and irrelevant references, after screening titles and abstracts. The remaining 12 studies were retrieved for full-text review, and, finally, we included five retrospective cohort studies from 2015 to 2021, comprising 223 patients undergoing RA PKP and 246 patients undergoing FA PKP. No difference was found in subgroup analysis based on the timing of postoperative pain assessment, despite the overall estimate of postoperative pain indicating a significant difference between the RA PKP and FA PKP groups (WMD, −0.22; 95% CI, −0.39 to −0.05). The long-term pain assessment revealed a significantly lower VAS in the RA PKP group than the FA PKP group at six months postoperatively (WMD, −0.15; 95% CI, −0.30 to −0.01), but no difference between the subgroups at three (WMD, 0.06; 95% CI, −0.41 to −0.54) and twelve months (WMD, −0.10; 95% CI, −0.50 to 0.30) postoperatively. Our meta-analysis revealed no significant difference in postoperative pain between RA PKP and FA PKP. Patients undergoing RA PKP had better pain improvement compared to FA PKP at 6 months postoperatively. However, further studies focusing on long-term outcomes in patients undergoing RA PKP are warranted to clarify its benefit, given the small number of included studies.