“Pushing the envelope to improve patient care,” The Steadman Clinic’s Dr. Michael Gallizzi performs his 300th robotic spine surgery

Dr. Gallizzi has superior his software of robotics to securely carry out extra complicated procedures, decompressions and cervical spine surgical procedures

VAIL, Colo., April 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Robotic and endoscopic spine surgeon Dr. Michael Gallizzi has reached yet one more milestone in his surgical profession, performing his 300^th robotic surgical procedure on April 2 in Vail, Colo. It marked the third straight April that Dr. Gallizzi accomplished a milestone variety of procedures, as he carried out No. 100 in April 2022 and No. 200 a yr in the past in April 2023.

“It’s actually been an awesome development,” stated Dr. Gallizzi. “The largest distinction from the primary 200 to the following 100 is that we began increasing the appliance of the robotic past simply inserting pedicle screws for the low again or lumbar spine. We expanded its use to securely carry out much more complicated surgical procedures, decompressions, and cervical spine surgical procedures.”

Robotic surgical procedure is comparatively new, however its makes use of are increasing, and Dr. Gallizzi is likely one of the leaders within the development of using robotics in spine surgical procedure.

“The largest use initially was focusing on pedicle screws within the low again and thoracic spine,” Dr. Gallizzi shared. “I used to be one of many first on the earth to make use of it to percutaneously place pedicle screws within the cervical spine.” He demonstrated this method on the 8^th annual Seattle Science Basis’s Robotics Course final December.

The development of recent makes use of for the robotic instrument has not solely made some surgical procedures safer but in addition much less time consuming and definitely much less invasive for the affected person.

Dr. Gallizzi notes how he has significantly improved the effectiveness of a few of his revision work on sufferers who’ve undergone earlier neck and spine surgical procedures.

“A lot of sufferers I deal with have had earlier procedures that packed quite a lot of bone at the back of the spine to assist it fuse. However when carried out that manner, performing a revision decompression was very troublesome as a result of the anatomy of the affected person was artificially modified.

“You’d then have this entire wall of bone from their earlier surgical procedure that you need to now undergo to get to the neural parts. With the robotic, I’ve been capable of plan trajectories to resect pointless bone away from the nervous constructions utilizing the robotic navigation instrument to mill out a really protected space away from essential constructions. I’m basically utilizing the robotic to assist outline the boundaries of the realm I must decompress. So now it’s virtually like connecting the dots in order that I can, by hand, carry out the fragile work across the spinal cord and nerves to finish the process in a safer and fewer damaging manner.”

What lies forward for Dr. Gallizzi and his specialty?

“The applying within the subsequent 100-and-beyond robotic surgical procedures will proceed to broaden on the use circumstances we’re discovering for the robotic know-how,” stated Dr. Gallizzi. “Amongst potential developments is the combination of an endoscope by way of the robotic, significantly in circumstances the place sufferers have undergone fusion procedures however skilled cage migration into the spinal canal. Using robotic steerage alongside the scope permits for exact focusing on and determination of such points.”

Dr. Gallizzi describes himself as a spine surgeon who “pushes the know-how envelope.” It’s that trait that he believes caught the eye of The Steadman Clinic when it was trying to find a brand new spine specialist to hitch its group.

“I believe they noticed a physician doing what all people else on their employees had carried out of their respective fields,” added Dr. Gallizzi. “Whether or not it was the legendary Dr. Steadman together with his ‘microfracture’ and ‘therapeutic response,’ or (Dr.) Marc Philippon, (Dr.) Peter Millett, (Dr.) Tom Hackett and Dr. Tom Clanton that have been mainly pioneering hip surgical procedure, shoulder surgical procedure, knee surgical procedure and foot and ankle surgical procedure. And hip surgeon (Dr.) Joel Matta pioneering a technique that was even named after him: the Anterior Benefit Matta Methodology.

“It’s simply nice to have the ability to be a part of that camaraderie of people that have been pushing the envelope to enhance affected person care.”

With that in thoughts, Dr. Gallizzi has teamed with fellow spine, neck and again surgeon Dr. Sonny Gill to create a spine surgical procedure fellowship as a part of the extremely revered fellowships at Steadman Philippon Analysis Institute (SPRI).

“Dr. Gill and I labored collectively to meticulously craft the rules for our new spine fellowship at SPRI,” Dr. Gallizzi shared. “We’re enthusiastic in regards to the prospect of choosing a professional candidate this yr. In response to the question of how you can domesticate extra spine surgeons proficient in robotic methods, this fellowship serves as a direct avenue for coaching. Our purpose in introducing this coaching to the esteemed Steadman fellowship program is to personally present complete coaching alternatives for the following era of spine surgeons.”