Robotic surgery technology has proven its value in diverse minimally invasive procedures. Now the robots are teaming up in the operating room: in a world first, dual robotic surgery was performed on April 23 at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, Israel.First-ever dual robotic surgery at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Image credit: Hadassah

Two robots assisted in the repair of a severe spinal fracture suffered by a 42-year-old factory worker injured when a steel object pinned him to the ground, fracturing his leg in two places and breaking six of his spinal vertebrae. The three-hour surgery took place in the state-of-the-art $30M underground hybrid operating theater at Hadassah's Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower.

Siemens' Artis Zeego provided real-time 3-D imaging during the surgical procedure, which eliminated the need for pre-surgery CT scans and post-surgery X-rays. It enables smoother, swifter and trouble-free patient positioning and execution procedures. Mazor Robotics' Renaissance Guidance System functioned as a screw placement system that allows spinal implant placement with maximum safety and accuracy. This system transforms spine surgery from freehand procedures to highly-accurate procedures that may reduce fluoroscopy—even for minimally-invasive surgery, scoliosis and other complex spinal deformity cases.

Orthopedic surgeons predict that the patient will completely recover from the surgery and will be walking again very shortly.