By JIM McCONVILLE
The Journal
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center added its first robot-neurosurgeon to its medical staff on Monday.
(Photo by Ron Agnir)
On Monday, BMC became the first medical center in West Virginia and the tri-state region to add the Mazor X, a robotic surgical platform, which will be used by its new Medicine Brain and Spine Center.
BMC is the first medical center in West Virginia and within a 60-mile radius from the center to employ the surgical robot technology.
Delivered to BMC on Aug. 17, the Mazor robot performed its first patient surgery Monday afternoon.
“As spinal surgery has evolved, more focus has been placed on minimizing trauma to the body during surgery and expediting a return to function through the use of minimally invasive techniques,” said Dr. John Caruso, neurosurgeon and medical director of WVU Medicine Brain and Spine at Berkeley Medical Center.
Using the the Mazor robot software, doctors can plan a spine operation procedure. During the actual surgical procedure, doctors use the precision mechanics and surgical arm to guide surgical tools and implants at the right trajectory and position, based on that surgical plan.
For patients, minimally invasive surgical procedure means less pain, less blood loss, a smaller surgical cut, a shorter hospital stay, and a shorter recovery period compared to conventional spine surgery.
“Any time you use minimally invasive procedures, it has distinct benefits,” said Anthony P. Zelenka, president and CEO of Berkeley Medical Center. “From an administrative standpoint, it’s providing a very high level quality services to our local population.”
Hiring Dr. Caruso is stage one in developing the hospital’s neuro-spine center, Zelenka said. The center will eventually have three neurosurgeons, one pain management-anesthegiologist and a physiatrist.
A neurosurgeon in the tri-state region for the past 20 years, Dr. Caruso most recently worked at Parkway Brain and Spine in Hagerstown.
On Aug. 1, WVU’s Hagerstown office became WVU Medicine Brain and Spine as Dr. Caruso was named director of Neurological Surgery at Berkeley Medical Center.
A Martinsburg office will open in September, and two office locations will continue as part of the design to provide regional neurosurgery care.
BMC’s new robotic system will also serve as a valuable recruitment tool, Zelenka said.
“It will also tremendously help in the recruitment of an additional two neurosurgons,” Zelenka said. “My overall goal for BMC is the recruitment of 75 additional physicians to the center over the next two years.
“This robot is exciting,” Caruso said. “Spinal surgery is innovation driven –we’re always thinking about how to build a better mouse trap. It’s important to get this, because we can then plan to perform surgery on the next level. That’s the question that we ask ourselves — how can we continually improve?
According to Dr. Caruso, the Mazor robot also provides enhanced surgical accuracy.
“It gets down to 1.5 millimeter accuracy,” Dr. Caruso said. “It’s better accuracy than even the most experienced spine surgeons in the world can do. And, it gives us the ability to get there sooner.”
Robotics spine fusion is likely to become the medical standard of care, Dr. Caruso said.
“I think there’s probably a good chance of that,” Dr. Caruso said. “How far off in the future, I don’t know — it’s not an inexpensive piece of equipment. But robotics will definitely play a larger role. The upfront costs will be deferred by the long term results.”
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