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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Dr. Andrew Parsons, an orthopedic surgeon at WVU Medicine, has helped bring a cutting-edge surgical procedure to the patients of the Mountain State.
Parsons has received specialized training in robotic assisted surgery, allowing him to offer WVU Medicine patients the most advanced options for spinal surgical procedures available in the state.
He prefers the term “computer-assisted navigation surgery,” Parsons said.
“Robotic refers to using the robot itself, and the surgeon becomes more along the lines of a computer programmer,” he said. “In what I do with more open spine surgeries — meaning not really minimally invasive — we use computer-assisted navigation.”
First, doctors take an intraoperative CT scan that produces a 3D image of the patient’s bones, Parsons said.
“Then the navigation system makes sure that all of my instruments are going exactly where they are supposed to be,” he said. “I’m able to see through the bone to where I’m supposed to be going, as opposed to just what your eye will allow you to see.”
Computer-assisted navigation is mainly used for surgical procedures to treat major spinal deformities, such as scoliosis, Parsons said.
“We’re typically having to do pretty long constructs,” he said. “We’ve really made great strides in orthopedics in terms of how these are done. One of the main reasons that we use the navigation is to place pedicle screws.”
The technology first emerged in the 1980s but was not widely adopted initially, Parsons said.
“It’s evolved — now we’re using screws and rods in each segment and being able to straighten out the curve and de-rotate it,” he said.
He joined the WVU Medicine family last year and has worked to make robotic assisted surgery the standard of care for significant spinal surgical procedures, Parsons said.
“Prior to my arrival, we were using the robot to check that all the screws were in place,” he said. “Now, with using the computer programing and the navigation, we’re actually doing that simultaneously. We’re watching the screw be placed where it’s supposed to be placed, as opposed to checking it later and maybe having to readjust something.”
He predicts the techniques and technology underlying the procedure will continue to advance in the years ahead, Parsons said.
“I think the technology itself is going to change with the workflow. It’s going to allow things to be a little bit smoother,” he said. “In the short term, I think all of the instrumentation is going to get that much better. And in the long term, I think we are going to be moving toward full robotic surgery.”
WVU Medicine is equipped with the same robotic surgical technology found at the leading institutions around the world, Parsons said.
“All the big hospitals are using this,” he said. “The fact that WVU Medicine has this already, we hope it allows our patients not to have to go to what they might perceive as a bigger-name hospital, because we are just as cutting edge as everyone else.”
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