When is a surgical device like the stud finder you buy at the hardware store? When innovation meets practicality.
On a recent morning at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, an Israeli company demonstrated its spinal surgery robot to potential customers, and students in the school's surgical technology program got a peek.
"I compare it to putting a screw in a wall," said Wayne Randazzo, the president of this year's class.
Just as a stud finder locates the wooden beams to drill into, this robot guides surgeons to the correct place on a patient's vertebra in which to insert screws.
"It was really neat," said Randazzo, who is from Flowery Branch. "I liked it and I'm glad I got to see it. I'll be better prepared when it's introduced in [operating rooms] in Atlanta."
Gwinnett Tech was an eager host when Mazor Surgical Technologies, whose U.S. office is in Atlanta, contacted surgical technology program director T.C. Parker to ask if the company could use its facilities for a product demonstration.
"What's funny is they came all the way from Israel to little ol' Gwinnett," Parker said.
Parker said she believed her program's willingness to allow medical companies to come in to teach and show off their technology factored in Mazor's decision to use Gwinnett Tech.
The company demonstrated for and taught surgeons from as far away as Massachusetts and California as Mazor officials performed operations on cadavers. Several Gwinnett Tech students watched as Mazor conducted research on a new procedure.
"I've always thought it's important to stay current with the industry," Parker said.
The technology is about 2 years old and is being used in 14 hospitals worldwide, said Yair Peleg, a Mazor customer service and technical support employee.
It can be yours for about $175,000. Mazor clinical and technical specialist Roberto Duran said he believed this was the company's first demonstration at a U.S. college.
"It worked out very well," Duran said. "The facility here is really excellent. It would be ideal if we could make it a site for training and R&D."
The product's centerpiece is a cylindrical robot about the size of an egg roll, sheathed in blue plastic. There's a little more to it than a fancy robot, though.
X-ray and CT scan images of the spine are fed into a computer. Using those, doctors determine where they want to drill into the vertebra and insert screws to fuse vertebra, repair fractures or correct scoliosis.
The SpineAssist robot sits atop a platform that is mounted on the spine. The robot's arm holds a guide tube through which the drill and screws are threaded. The robot adjusts so that the tube and drill insert screws at the right spot and angle.
Considering that mispositioning a screw by no more than 2 millimeters can mean paralysis, precision is paramount. Peleg said the robot helps doctors be accurate to within half a millimeter.
Parker said there aren't any products on the market quite like the SpineAssist robot.
One of the students who observed told her it was like a history lesson because it was history in the making.
- This article is a reprint from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.