DULUTH — Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center’s “Meet the Robots” event Tuesday provided a hands-on demonstration of its robotic surgical tools. Essentia's surgeons showcased devices including the Monarch, da Vinci, Mazor and Mako systems.
Meet Mazor X Essentia Health-St. Mary’s was the third site in Minnesota to acquire the Mazor device after it became available three years ago. Dr.
Anthony Burrows, a neurosurgeon at Essentia, explained how the Mazor X is used to perform minimally invasive spine surgeries. It is often used to treat degenerative disc diseases, scoliosis, herniated discs and more. ADVERTISEMENT “We now perform more of these surgeries than anyone else in Minnesota,” Burrows said.
He anticipates the hospital will perform approximately 300 surgeries with the Mazor this year. “Much like any AI or other robotic system, it’s guided by a human. This makes my job easier, but it doesn’t replace what I do,” Burrows said.
Ben Foelker, Mazor area manager with Minneapolis-based Medtronic, said there are about 350 of the machines nationwide. “This is relatively new technology,” he said. Meet Mako Essentia orthopedic surgeon Dr.
Anne Normand demonstrated the Stryker Mako robot used to assist with joint replacement surgery for knees and hips. “The use of the Mako robot allows us to determine where we cut the bone to provide the best balance for placement for a knee joint so patients get mobility, range of motion and strength back,” Normand said. “We do not do shoulders yet with this technology.
” Since 2018, Michigan-based Stryker has distributed five Mako machines across the state, three of which are located at Essentia, according to Mako product specialist John Mallaf. The two others are located at Superior and Virginia facilities. On average, Normand estimates Essentia performs at least 10 surgeries per week with the Mako.
There are four board-certified orthopedic surgeons using the Mako for surgeries in Duluth, one in Virginia and another in Superior. “We don’t have nearly as much bleeding into the knee joint or as much swelling, which is a big advantage for recovery,” Normand said. “The ability to balance the knee to avoid some of the additional soft tissue work that we used to have to do when we were doing our best judgment work is another important factor that is helping our patients recover faster.
” ADVERTISEMENT Meet da Vinci The da Vinci is a surgeon-driven robot that has been used for over 7,500 cases at Essentia to treat cardiothoracic, gynecology, urology, general and trauma since the health system implemented the technology over a decade ago. There are four da Vinci devices at Essentia: one at Miller Dwan and three at the Duluth hospital. “We do about 850 cases every three months,” said Kellie Dineen, da Vinci and Intuitive representative at Essentia.
One major benefit is the reduced length of a patient’s stay with use of the device. “Surgeons are able to be very precise, and what we’ve seen is in a traditional open procedure, patients can be in the hospital for an extended period of time — some for five to 10 days,” Dineen said. “With this platform, a lot of our surgeons are sending the patients home the same day or within 72 hours.
” Dr. Ryan Clark, cardiothoracic surgeon with Essentia, performs operations such as lung cancer surgery on patients using the da Vinci. “This offers a high-definition 3D image with very precise control,” Clark said.
“You don’t usually have that type of control with big, long instruments.” According to Clark, benefits also include a much smaller incision size, leading to shorter hospital stays, lower pain scores and narcotic use, as well as a faster return to work. ADVERTISEMENT “This is some really exciting technology we hadn’t had prior to two years ago at Essentia with chest surgery.
I was sort of the first one to bring that type of training here,” Clark said. “We’ve done about 50 thoracic surgeries here now.” Meet Monarch Cale Arhart is a clinical specialist with Johnson & Johnson’s Monarch, a robotically assisted navigational bronchoscopy.
Patients will typically undergo a procedure on the Monarch to sample a nodule or a tumor for a cancer diagnosis. “Lung cancer kills more people than prostate, breast and colon cancers combined within a year,” Arhart said. “Our robot is designed to accelerate that path to early diagnosis to prolong the lifespan of the patient.
” The device pairs the live CT scan image with the virtual AI-generated image to navigate through a patient's lungs. “Once we’re out to where we believe the suspicion of cancer is located, we’re going to use a biopsy tool to extract tissue from the patient,” Arhart said. Essentia owns the market for the Monarch, so it is the No.
1 procedural location in the state. Essentia hosts two Monarch machines — located in Duluth and Fargo, North Dakota — performing on average an estimated 35 procedures monthly, Arhart said..
