Background:

As minimally invasive spine surgery becomes more widespread, concerns regarding radiation exposure to surgeons and patients alike has become a growing concern. Robotic-guidance has been developed as way to increase accuracy of instrumentation while decreasing radiation burden.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis of a large, multi-center, prospective study comparing robotic- to fluoroscopic-guidance (MISReFRESH) was performed to evaluate for differences in radiation exposure between study groups.

Results:

Robotic-guidance (RG) was associated with a 78.3% (p<0.001) and 79.8% (p<0.001) reduction in total and per screw fluoroscopy times, respectively, as compared to fluoroscopic-guidance (FG). RG was also associated with a 50.8% (p<0.001) reduction in total operative fluoroscopy time.

Conclusions:

Robotic-guidance was associated with significantly lower fluoroscopy times compared to fluoroscopic-guidance. This suggests that utilization of robotic navigation systems may result in decreased operative radiation exposure, which is a growing concern for surgeons performing minimally invasive spine surgery. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.