Product: Innovative Technology for Predictable, Efficient and Precise Surgical Procedures. Developers: Prof. Moshe Shoham, Eli Zahavi Company: Mazor Robotics Year of Foundation: 2001
Israel has long assumed a world leading position in both the medical and robotic fields. In recent years, one Israeli company has been at the forefront of integrating the two. Prof. Moshe Shoham, head of the robotics laboratory at the Technion and Eli Zahavi, former VP and director of engineering at Elscint, joined forces
in 2001 to focus on a unique application aimed at transcending the human limitations of spine surgery with its great need for precision in close proximity to delicate organs. They named the company they founded Masor Surgical Technologies, later changed to Mazor Robotics.
Mazor (‘healing’ or ‘cure’ in Hebrew) developed a unique technology named Mazor Core Technology to provide predictable, efficient and precise surgical procedures. In essence, Mazor Core is the collaboration of four key technologies in Mazor’s systems: sophisticated 3D analytics and virtual tools to determine procedure goals and surgical plan; an advanced algorithmicbased anatomy recognition engine; a set of biocompatible devices that rigidly affix the robotic arm to the patient’s skeletal anatomy during surgery, ensuring precision through a stable, solid connection; and a sophisticated registration tool to analyze and match images from different modalities and body positions.
Utilizing the advantages of robotics in surgery – reduced invasiveness of procedures and therefore less cut muscle and exposed tissue - Mazor’s technology leads to shorter hospital stays, lower risk of infection and lower medical costs. Mazor used their advanced technology to develop the Renaissance® Guidance System the objective of which was to improve the accuracy of implant surgery and attempt to eliminate potential nerve damage. The system received FDA authorization for spine surgery and commercially released in 2011. The following year it was granted approval for use brain surgery. The system showed a 99 percent success rate in spine stabilization versus 86- 90 percent if the system is not used.
Mazor Core Technology is supporting and serving more than 170 installations and spine programs globally, has treated over 29,000 patients by more than 100 surgeons in a wide variety of procedures, and has been used for precise placement of over 200 thousand implants.
