Policlinico Vanvitelli, artificial intelligence helped surgeons operate on Angela's back.
Operation with an ultramodern and innovative technique thanks to software and artificial intelligence. Dg Ferdinando Russo: “We combine research and assistance to offer excellent answers”.
"I realized I had to do something in November, when I was in bed for days after attending a concert. All my life I have suffered the pains of hell and I had to give up what for others is normality, today thanks to this operation I can savor the extraordinary sensation of being a girl like the others. No longer having to fight with excruciating back pain."
The joy of Angela, a twenty-three-year-old from Naples who was able to resolve a serious scoliosis thanks to an exceptional operation performed at the Luigi Vanvitelli University Hospital in Naples, is uncontainable.
Incredibly, there is also artificial intelligence software in the surgical team that operated on young Angela's back, allowing her to return to a normal life. The operation, never performed before in Italy, was planned and carried out by Professor Enrico Pola (director of the Orthopedic Clinic of the AOU Luigi Vanvitelli and by Dr. Luigi Aurelio Nasto, also from the Orthopedic Clinic. For the doctors of the Policlinico Vanvitelli, the goal was to correct a serious form of scoliosis that had developed since adolescence and had become disabling over the years.
To do this, this is the absolute novelty, the surgeons were supported by an artificial intelligence software that not only allowed them to predict every step of the operation, but also to produce in advance surgical instruments with which to perform the intervention. Let's proceed in order. Before proceeding with the operation, the artificial intelligence software performed the intervention in virtual mode, suggesting the best possible approach in relation to the pathology and the specific characteristics of the patient.
Even predicting the postural compensations that the body would implement six months after the operation. The software also created a series of “custom made” surgical instruments, personalized and perfect for operating on the young woman. Obviously, what made the difference was the skill and experience of those in the operating room who then had to implement the intervention, being able to count on a continuous dialogue with the pool of engineers who governed the adaptive artificial intelligence software.
“A revolutionary technique for spinal surgery – explains Professor Pola – because it allows highly complex interventions to be repeated, and above all it allows for predictable and programmable results, reducing duration and intra- and post-operative complications. Furthermore, the software will allow for updating and adapting surgical programs by learning from experience and the accumulation of data that will be entered over time”.
Dr. Luigi Aurelio Nasto instead emphasizes how «the use in the operating room of instruments designed by engineers through artificial intelligence to adapt to the unique anatomical characteristics of each individual patient is extremely useful, especially for highly complex interventions such as those for the surgical correction of scoliosis in adolescents and adults».
General Manager Ferdinando Russo was also satisfied with the historic result and underlined how the Policlinico Vanvitelli is a “a reality of excellence in the regional and national healthcare panorama. A university hospital company that best combines research and assistance to guarantee an excellent response to the health needs of the citizens of Campania and beyond”.
Having passed the necessary checks, Angela returned home and will discuss her thesis immediately after Christmas. "This surgery was the best gift I could have wished for. I know I will be able to discuss with my classmates and stand for the time of the proclamation without having to worry about my back anymore. There are no words to thank the doctors who made all this possible, I will always carry them in my heart."
Article published on 21 December 2022 - 16:05
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