Comparison of robot versus fluoroscopy-assisted pedicle screw instrumentation in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis surgery: a Meta-analysis

To investigate the safety and accuracy of robot-assisted pedicle screw placement in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) surgery.

PubMed, Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, and EMCC databases were searched for studies utilizing the clinical data of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients (robot-assisted and fluoroscopy-assisted group) who underwent posterior pedicle screw fixation to collect preoperative, postoperative and follow-up indexes and imaging parameters, including screw implantation accuracy, the number of intraoperative fluoroscopy times, amount of bleeding, operation time, postoperative VAS score and postoperative Cobb angle.

Six studies were included in this meta-analysis, including 154 patients in the intervention group and 171 patients in the control group. Our results showed that screw implantation accuracy (WMD 1.07, 95% CI (1.01,1.14), P = 0.03) was higher than that in the control group. The number of intraoperative fluoroscopy times (WMD -6.11, 95% CI (-9.60, -2.62), P = 0.0006) and operation time (WMD 31.52, 95% CI (5.70,57.35), P = 0.02) in the robot group were less, and the differences were statistically significant. Intraoperative blood (WMD -59.05, 95% CI (-212.81,94.70), P = 0.45), postoperative VAS score (WMD -0.07, 95% CI (-0.24,0.11), P = 0.46), preoperative Cobb angle (WMD 0.79, 95% CI (-1.12,2.69), P = 0.42) (Fig. 7), postoperative Cobb angle (WMD -0.25, 95% CI (-1.12,0.62), P = 0.57) (Fig. 8) had no statistical significance in the robot group compared with control group.

The robot navigation system can improve screw implantation accuracy and reduce the operation time and radiation exposure during the operation.