Mazor Robotics, Ltd., a developer of innovative guidance systems and complementary products, announced that for the first time ever, a surgeon utilized Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System to perform an Asleep Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) procedure earlier this month at Littleton Adventist Hospital in Littleton, Colo.
The team was led by neurosurgeon Dr. David VanSickle of the Denver DBS Center. The patient, a 65-year-old male recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, was treated for tremors and is responding well, according to Dr. VanSickle.
"Using the Renaissance system provides much more accuracy and holds the trajectory," said Dr. VanSickle. "Because of this, more patients have the option of being asleep during the procedure than before. This is not only helpful for the patient and relieves a great deal of anxiety, but it enables the doctor to perform the procedure quicker, with less complication and fewer probes into the brain."
"New research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that undergoing DBS in the earlier stages of Parkinson's disease is extremely effective, contrary to earlier recommendations that patients must have the disease for at least seven years to see the benefits of DBS," said Dr. VanSickle. "The research also found DBS to be more effective than medications in controlling tremors in patients with Parkinson's disease."
Mazor Robotics Renaissance system is the first and only of its kind cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for spine and brain surgery.
To date, thousands of spine procedures have been performed with the Renaissance system, ranging from minimally-invasive one-level fusions to complex deformity reconstructions. Dr. VanSickle is among the first to use the system for DBS.
Source: http://mazorrobotics.com/