VISIE Introduces Continuous Anatomic Auto Tracking for Robotic-Assisted TKA

VISIE, formerly known as Advanced Scanners, has successfully demonstrated Continuous Anatomic Auto Tracking (CAAT) for robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RA-TKA) at its Austin, TX headquarters.
 
CAAT is a proprietary, highly promising technological leap that gives vision to surgical robotic and navigation systems designed for orthopedic, neuro, cranial, and spine surgery, including RA-TKA, a type of robotic-assisted surgery (RAS).
 
“It’s incredibly gratifying to be at this point with the technology, seeing CAAT coming to life with the aim of enabling pinless RAS for RA-TKA,” says Aaron Bernstein, PhD, VISIE co-founder and CTO. “More than that, it’s exciting to imagine CAAT’s utility in other orthopedic procedures, as well as other specialties that could benefit from anatomic tracking, especially neurosurgical applications. This has been a team effort years in the making, and it’s a joy to see company founders, veterans, and new teammates coming together and working to improve the surgical experience for patients and their surgeons.”
 
CAAT is intended to enable VISIE’s 3D scanners to continuously track the two primary bones that make up the knee joint as they move in space like they do in RA-TKA.
 
“If we had robotic systems that could actually see the patient, much like we do with our own eyes, and track the anatomy continuously throughout the procedure, that would be game-changing for orthopaedic surgeons and their patients. It could mean avoiding pins and arrays, saving steps, time, and tissue,” says J. Craig Morrison, MD, an orthopedic joint replacement surgeon at Southern Joint Replacement Institute in Nashville, TN., and investor in the company. 
 
The company aims for CAAT to allow VISIE’s scanners to move an integrated surgical robotic arm in sync with a knee’s motion during surgery. This would enable VISIE’s scanners to maintain a view of the knee, tracking the anatomy in real-time as it moves throughout the surgical procedure.
 
“Currently, robotic and navigated orthopedic procedures require the use of tracking arrays, which are tracked by infrared cameras in the operating room, to track patients’ anatomy,” says Shiraz K. Patel, MD, an orthopedic joint replacement surgeon at The Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky in Paducah, KY., and investor. “The challenge is these tracking arrays require surgeons to place two tracking pins into the femur and two into the tibia to attach the arrays to the patient to work properly.”
 
VISIE has demonstrated CAAT in bench testing and intends to perform live demonstrations at the AAHKS Annual Meeting in Grapevine, TX on November 7-8, 2024. VISIE has not yet submitted CAAT to the FDA for evaluation.