Northwell Health is the first health care system in New York State to offer the Teligen Spine Surgical System, a first-of-its-kind technology that helps complex spine surgeons better see the spine during advanced or minimally invasive spinal surgeries. Daniel Sciubba, MD, senior vice president of neurosurgery at Northwell and co-executive director of the Northwell Spine Institute, performed the first surgery using Teligen on December 3 at North Shore University Hospital on a 65-year-old woman with a spinal tumor.

The plan for the operation was to do an en bloc resection of the tumor that would take it out in one piece. Because of the spine’s anatomical structure and proximity to major blood vessels, nerves, internal organs, and the spinal cord, this would be a complex and technically demanding surgery.

“In the past, the issue with taking out a spinal tumor in one piece was that it was hard to see all the cuts to make from one approach, so it had to be done in multiple stages,” explained Dr. Sciubba. “Teligen uses a mobile camera, so we can look around corners within the surgical site.”

Developed by DePuy Synthes, The Orthopaedics Company of Johnson & Johnson, the Teligen system consists of a tower with a 4K high-definition screen monitor and a tiny disposable camera that is attached to a flexible wire and inserted into the surgical site of the patient. The surgeon can manipulate the camera in all directions and has a direct line of sight to the camera images in real-time on the screen.

Should the image get blurry during surgery, the camera has a self-cleaning mechanism — similar to a windshield washer — that clarifies visualization.

In addition to spine tumor resection, Teligen can be used for more minimally invasive spinal procedures, such as spinal decompression, discectomy, and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgeries.

“Northwell’s investment in technologies such as Teligen enables us to take on the most complex spinal surgeries and do them in ways that are innovative and pioneering,” said Dr. Sciubba. “We can do these surgeries in less time, with smaller incisions and less damage to surrounding normal tissues. It allows us to treat patients more safely and efficaciously.”

Teligen received FDA clearance in October 2022. A small-scale cadaver study found that Teligen reduces patient exposure to x-rays used to obtain real-time images by 47 percent compared to cases performed with a surgical microscope. It also reduces the number of surgical instrument trays used and processing costs.