Robotic-Assisted Surgery

What robotic-assisted surgery is

A robotic guidance system starts with a three-dimensional plan: implant type, size, and trajectory are mapped on your imaging before surgery. In the operating room, a rigid robotic arm guides instruments along those planned trajectories with mechanical steadiness the human hand alone cannot match.

The surgeon controls every step — positioning the arm, advancing each instrument, and verifying placement. The robot guides; it does not operate independently.

How it supports precision

The system's strength is repeatability: once a trajectory is planned, the arm holds it steadily, which supports precise and consistent screw placement, especially in cases with altered anatomy from prior surgery or deformity.

Because the planning happens before the incision, the team can rehearse and refine implant positioning calmly rather than improvising under time pressure — and then confirm the result with intraoperative imaging.

When it is used

Robotic guidance is used for select instrumented procedures — typically fusions — where planned, repeatable screw trajectories add value, especially when prior surgery or deformity has altered the usual landmarks. It is not used for decompressions, motion-preservation procedures, or cases where anatomy is best judged in real time; rigid guidance helps only when the right answer can be planned in advance.

What it does not do is operate. The surgeon positions the arm, advances every instrument, and verifies every placement independently. The robot holds the trajectory; the surgeon holds the responsibility — and decides whether the technology genuinely adds value in the first place.

Its limits

A robotic system is only as good as its plan and its registration to your anatomy. Poor-quality imaging, an inaccurate plan, or a shift during the operation can produce precisely guided — but wrong — trajectories, which is why every step is verified independently.

It is also not the right tool for every case. Decompressions, motion-preservation procedures, and cases where anatomy is best judged in real time do not benefit from rigid guidance. The surgeon decides when the technology genuinely adds value.

What it does

A robotic guidance system changes two things about an instrumented operation. First, the planning moves before the incision: implant type, size, and trajectory are mapped on the patient's own imaging in three dimensions, calmly and in detail, rather than being worked out in the moment. Second, during the operation, a rigid robotic arm holds the planned instrument trajectories with a mechanical steadiness the human hand alone cannot match — the arm guides, the surgeon advances every instrument by hand.

To be explicit: the robot does not operate. It does not make decisions, it does not move on its own, and it does not replace the surgeon. It is a guidance instrument — a very steady one — executing a plan the surgeon created and supervises at every step.

How Dr. Choi uses it

Robotic guidance is used for select instrumented procedures — typically fusions — where planned, repeatable screw trajectories add real value. That tends to mean cases where the usual landmarks are altered: prior surgery, deformity, or anatomy that makes freehand placement less straightforward. It is not used for decompressions or by default; it is chosen when the plan benefits from mechanical repeatability.

Every trajectory is still verified — with intraoperative imaging and with the surgeon's own assessment of the anatomy. The technology adds a layer of consistency; the judgment about where each screw belongs remains the surgeon's.

What it means for you

For patients, the meaning is precision where it counts: in instrumented cases, each screw follows the trajectory planned on your imaging, held steady by the guidance arm, and confirmed before the operation moves on. That consistency is especially valuable when anatomy is complex. Like computer-assisted navigation, it supports doing precise work through minimally invasive corridors — the same careful operation, with steadier guidance behind it.