DULUTH — Robotic surgery tools were demonstrated at Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center’s “Meet the Robot” event on Tuesday.
Essentia surgeons displayed devices such as the Monarch, da Vinci, Mazor and Mako systems.
Essentia Health St. Mary’s is the third facility in Minnesota to install the Mazor device since it was introduced three years ago.
Dr. Anthony Burrows, a neurosurgeon at Essentia, explained how Mazor X is used in minimally invasive spine surgery. The device is often used to treat degenerative disc disease, scoliosis, herniated discs, and more.
“Right now we do more surgeries than any other hospital in the state of Minnesota,” said Burrows, who expects the hospital to perform about 300 surgeries using Mather this year.
Neurosurgeon Anthony Burrows talks about Essentia Health Saint Mary’s Medical Center’s Mazor surgical robot.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
The Mazor surgical robot is connected to a display monitor.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
“Like any AI or any robotic system, it will be guided by a human. It makes my job easier, but it won’t replace my job,” Burrows said.
“This is a relatively new technology,” said Ben Volker, Mazor regional manager for Minneapolis-based Medtronic, which said there are about 350 of the machines across the country.
Orthopedic surgeon Anne Normand from Essentia explains how the Stryker Mako robot assists in knee replacement surgery.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
Essentia orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ann Normand demonstrated the Stryker Mako robot, which is used to assist in knee and hip replacement surgeries.
“Using the Mako robot, we can determine where to cut the bone to provide optimal balance for knee alignment, allowing patients to regain mobility, range of motion and strength,” Normand says. “We haven’t performed shoulder surgery with this technology yet.”
John Malaff, Mako product specialist, said Michigan-based Stryker has deployed five Mako machines in the state since 2018, three of which are in Essentia. The other two are in Superior and Virginia facilities.
Normand estimates that on average, Essentia performs at least 10 Mako procedures per week. There are four board-certified orthopedic surgeons performing Mako procedures in Duluth, one in Virginia and one in Superior.
Ann Normand explains what knee surgery is like using the Stryker Mako robot without the blade attached.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
A monitor connected to the Stryker Mako robot shows the area of the knee that will be cut during surgery highlighted in green.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
“There’s a huge advantage to recovery because there’s very little bleeding or swelling in the knee joint,” Normand said. “The ability to balance the knee and avoid additional soft tissue surgery that would have been required if we had performed the surgery under best judgment is also a key factor in speeding up patient recovery.”
Da Vinci is a surgeon-operated robot that has been used in more than 7,500 cases in cardiothoracic, gynecological, urological, general surgery and trauma procedures since Essentia Healthcare System introduced the technology more than 10 years ago.
Kellie Dineen, president of da Vinci and Intuitive, explains the capabilities of the da Vinci XI surgical robot.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
Essentia has four da Vinci devices: one at Miller-Dwan and three at Duluth Hospital.
“We do about 850 cases every three months,” said Kelly Dineen, president of Essentia Da Vinci and Intuitive.
One big benefit is that using this device reduces the length of time patients stay in hospital.
“Surgeons can operate with great precision, whereas with traditional open surgery, patients can stay in the hospital for a long time, some five to 10 days,” Dineen said. “With this platform, many of our surgeons are sending patients home the same day or within 72 hours.”
Dr. Ryan Clark, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Essentia, uses the Da Vinci to perform procedures such as lung cancer surgery on patients.
“This gives us high-resolution 3-D images with very precise control,” Clark says, “which you normally can’t get with a larger, longer instrument.”
Clark said the benefits of much smaller incisions also include shorter hospital stays, less pain, less narcotics needed and faster return to work.
“This is a really groundbreaking technology that didn’t exist in Essentia thoracic surgery two years ago, and I’m the first person to bring this kind of training here,” Clark said. “We’ve done about 50 thoracic surgeries so far.”
Monarch Clinical Specialist Cale Arhart talks about Monarch’s robotic assisted bronchoscopy device.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
A demonstration of the Monarch robotic bronchoscopy device involves using an Xbox controller to navigate the inside of a lung on a display.
Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group
Cale Earhart is a clinical expert for Johnson & Johnson’s Monarch robotic-assisted navigational bronchoscopy device, which patients typically undergo for testing to obtain samples of nodules or tumors to diagnose cancer.
“Lung cancer kills more people a year than prostate, breast, and colon cancer combined,” says Earhart, “and our robot is designed to accelerate the path to earlier diagnosis and extend patients’ lives.”
The device combines live CT scan images with virtual AI-generated images to navigate a patient’s lungs.
“Once we get to where we think there may be cancer, we’ll use a biopsy tool to take tissue from the patient,” Earhart said.
Essentia dominates the market for Monarch and is the No. 1 facility performing the procedure in North Dakota. It has two Monarch machines installed in Duluth and Fargo, North Dakota, and averages 35 procedures a month there, Earhart said.