First robotic surgery in China a success

A patient suffering from numbness received robotic surgery in Anhui on Jan 3, marking the first instance of robotic surgery in China.

The 42-year-old Wang, with numbness in his legs and left hand, underwent surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University lasting only half an hour, with a wound measuring only 1 centimeter that had limited bleeding. He was able to get up from bed the next day and recover within one week. This is faster than with regular surgery, where the general recovery duration could last two to three weeks due to the potential for more extensive bleeding.

The robot Tinavi, or Tianji in Chinese, is the world's only orthopedic robotic system that is able to carry out surgery on the extremities, pelvic fractures and the whole spinal segment (cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral vertebrae).

The robot acts as an assistant to the surgeons. Compatible with multimodality imaging, its state-of-the-art planning software assists the surgeon to create comprehensive surgical blueprints for spine and trauma procedures.

The robot's optical tracking system enables it to perform 3-D scanning and monitor the whole surgery process. Like GPS, it can also carry out real-time tracking to precisely position on the bones. Its robotic arm increases the consistency between surgical paths and planned trajectories.

The China-made robot costs 15 million yuan ($2.31 million).