The ROSA™ robotic surgical assistant allows surgeons to reduce operating time and eliminate the need of traditional craniotomies – the surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain, which is highly invasive and can lead to long recovery times.
Experts at Valley Children’s are utilizing ROSA™ robotic surgical assistant for surgical navigation and precise positioning, allowing our surgeons to access deep brain targets to place electrodes. The placement of electrodes can detect seizures in the brain without having to open a patient’s skull or even shave a patient’s head. The ROSA™ robotic surgical assistant planning software creates a 3D map of the patient’s brain to plan out the pathways needed to carry out the procedure.
Prior to ROSA™ robotic surgical assistant, only one percent of epilepsy patients qualified for brain surgery in attempt to minimize or eliminate life-disrupting seizures. The only alternative was utilizing continued medication to monitor and manage epileptic seizures. However approximately 30 percent of patients with epilepsy don’t respond to medication, leaving seizures a daily threat. ROSA™ robotic surgical assistant’s ability to identify the precise seizure focus or the “source” of the seizures opens the doors for hundreds more patients to become surgically qualified.
“This technology means better and faster surgeries are brought right here to the Central Valley,” neurosurgeon Dr. Patricia Clerkin said. “We anticipate a dramatic increase in surgical procedures to help families and patients who didn’t even have this option accessible to them.”