Patients needing surgery to treat spinal disorders now have access to a new technology at New Hanover Regional Medical Center that officials say can offer additional precision. 

The new robotics-assisted surgical system helps guide the surgeon’s tools and implants in both open and minimally invasive surgery to help achieve even greater accuracy during surgery, hospital officials said.

New Hanover Regional is the first hospital in North Carolina to offer the Mazor Robotics Renaissance system, hospital officials said. 

Using the Mazor Robotics Renaissance system and a CT image of the patient’s spine, doctors can create a customized, step-by-step 3-D simulation of the ideal surgery, planning the angle and location of each incision and implanted device before ever entering the operating room.

During surgery, Renaissance tools then act as a navigation system to guide the surgeon’s hand and tools to the precise pre-planned location, thus helping to increase the precision of the surgery.

“Since we started using this new system at NHRMC, I have been very pleased with our results and accuracy thus far,” Adam P. Brown, a neurosurgeon at New Hanover Regional, said in a news release.

“This technology allows me to create a detailed blueprint of how I want to perform the surgery ahead of time. I then am able to use the blueprint to perform the surgery with the exact specifications I created. The meticulous planning I do ahead of time translates to an even more precise surgery for my patients.”  

Brown said that with the robotics-assisted surgical guidance system, spinal procedures can be performed with increased accuracy and reduced neurologic risks.

The system also can reduce the use of fluoroscopy, a continuous X-ray used to see inside the body during medical procedures.