Minimally invasive spinal surgeries can be quite challenging to perform because light barely gets into the narrow incisions. To better see what they’re working with, surgeons use various light sources, such as head-mounted ones, to illuminate the area. Most lights are point sources that shine in one direction and can be insufficient in lighting the entirety of a working region. Invuity (San Francisco, CA) has now released its new Invuity Waveguide XT System to help illuminate spinal disks being worked on and the anatomy around them.

The Waveguide XT is touted by the company as a “universal ‘drop-in’ illuminator” that is easily placed into the disc space without altering the instruments and procedures that spinal surgeons are used to. It remains cool so as to not damage any tissue around it and delivers omnidirectional light that spreads evenly throughout the working area.

“One of the unique benefits of Invuity’s Waveguide XT System is that it can be strategically placed within the incision to direct and shape the illumination deep into the disc space providing startlingly clear visualization without the risk of thermal tissue damage,” said Warren F. Neely, MD, Neurosurgery, Christus Santa Rosa Health System in San Antonio, TX, in a statement. “With this innovative drop-in device, surgeons benefit from superior visualization without altering their standard surgical technique or instrumentation.”

“The rapid shift toward minimal access procedures has advanced patient outcomes. However, an unintended consequence of this evolution is that it has decreased the surgeon’s most important sense – vision,” said Invuity Chief Executive Officer Philip Sawyer. “The Waveguide XT System is the latest device in our growing photonics-based portfolio designed to bring back this critical sense. In the future, our technology platform will continue to expand into additional modalities to address some of the most significant unmet clinical needs in minimal access surgery.”

source: Invuity