Robot-assisted laminectomy in spinal surgery: a systematic review

This study aimed to summarize the current progress in the field of robot-assisted laminectomy in spinal surgery. A systematic search of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore, PubMed, Embase, Web of science, The Cochrane Library, Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Biomedicine Literature Database (CBM-SinoMed) was performed for papers related to robotic-assisted laminectomy. A total of 27 articles were selected for inclusion in our study. Among the articles, 10 robotic system, 2 bone cutting strategies, 6 state recognition strategies were founded. The most commonly adopted type of robot system was the Nathoo A type (6/10). Bone cutting strategies were mainly formulated based on force information and medical image information, and state recognition was based on a variety of factors, including force, sound, vibration, medical images, current or a combination of parameters. Early research on robot-assisted laminectomy did not reflect good continuity, and the studies mainly focused on the type of robotic system. In recent years, more researchers have chosen the Nathoo A as the robot system type, and the focus of research has gradually shifted to laminectomy path planning and safety control strategies, such as state recognition. Although these studies have been able to perform laminectomy without penetrating the inner cortex of the lamina, most experiments have been performed in vitro, and clinical application is still untested.