Revolutionary Neurosurgery at Bayhealth

New 7D Surgical FLASH™ Navigation System and Globus ExcelsiusGPS® provide safer spinal and cranial procedures

BY DR. DAWN TARTAGLIONE

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS and advancements in neurosurgery provide better patient outcomes and peace of mind for both the patient and surgeon. Bayhealth neurosurgeons, Dawn Tartaglione, DO, FACOS and Amit Goyal, MD, are leading the charge in bringing advanced technology, procedures, and state-of-the-art care to Delaware residents.

Bayhealth is the first and only health system in Delaware to utilize the 7D Surgical FLASH™ Navigation System, a high-tech tool that provides a better way to navigate delicate spine and brain surgeries while also making surgery safer for staff and patients.

Unlike standard X-ray images that may be taken several times to guide the surgeon during a procedure—leading to more time in surgery and more radiation exposure—7D Surgical FLASH™ produces detailed two- and three-dimensional images in three-to-four seconds using sophisticated technology like that found in a self-driving car.

This results in shortened surgeries with less time under anesthesia; shorter Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and hospital stays, smaller incisions; and highly accurate placement of screws, rods, and other surgical hardware or devices.

In 2019, Bayhealth was also first in the state to implement the use of the ExcelsiusGPS® robotic guidance and navigation system for spine surgery. Surgery with this system offers many potential benefits for patients, such as smaller incisions, less scarring, a shorter hospital stay, and faster recovery. It works like a car’s GPS, aligning the surgeons on their planned surgical pathways for precise placement of screws and other implants in delicate areas close to nerves and the spinal cord.

Bayhealth Director of Neurosurgery Dawn Tartaglione, DO, FACOS sat down for a Q&A session to explain how these revolutionary technologies provide better outcomes for patients and staff.

How do these technologies provide safer outcomes?

The 7D Surgical FLASH™ Navigation System allows us to see inside a patient’s body in three dimensions so that we can plan brain and spine procedures very efficiently. The plan for the procedure can be done quickly and the “flash” allows us to update the plan as the surgery progresses.

Before these technologies were available, real-time X-Rays were taken frequently when placing stabilization devices into a patient’s spine. Now, the robotic arm of the Globus ExcelsiusGPS® can be guided by a footplate and sterile touchscreen used by the surgeon, and minimal X-Rays are taken. This decreases the length of the operation and time the patient is lying face down under general anesthesia during back surgery, which in turn, provides safer procedures.

Is the ExcelsiusGPS ® robot considered non-invasive?

Patients are often concerned about having a robot inside their body. This robot is not like the DaVinci robot, which operates inside the body guided by the surgeon.

This new navigation tool has a robotic arm that holds itself perfectly still in the exact location that we need to place the hardware, outside the body, from 1 to 12 inches above the skin.

What are the benefits to using these technologies for elective spine surgery?

We are offering a superior level of care right here. That means our patients don’t have to travel to receive the latest procedures and to get the pre- and post-op help they need. With aging patients staying more active than ever before, they need their spines to function at a higher level for many years to come. Both technological systems we offer can shorten surgery and recovery time. This allows patients to return to their daily activities sooner and leads to happier outcomes.

Visit bayhealth.org/services/neurosciences/neurological-procedures-surgeries to learn more about neurological treatments.

Dawn Tartaglione, DO, FACOS, is Bayhealth’s medical director of neurosurgery.