PHOENIX (CBS5) -
There's a new robot in town and it's the only one of its kind in Arizona. It provides more accurate and less intrusive techniques during spine surgery.
It costs $1 million, but for many Arizonans, it's changing their lives for the better.
Melvin Douglas is a champion wrestler-turned-coach.
"It got to the point where I couldn't walk," said Douglas.
About a year ago, Douglas came to Dr. Terrance Crowder at the Sonoran Spine Center when his leg started going numb.
Douglas needed surgery and during this operation, Crowder wouldn't be working alone.
"We've come to a point where we can actually use robotics to do surgery," said Crowder.
The new robot finds the spot where a screw needs to be placed into the spine. That process, before the use of the robot, used to be more dangerous and painful for the patient.
"(We'd have) surgeries that used to need incisions that were four, five, six inches long and we'd have to strip muscle away. We'd have to have patients in the hospital for a week or maybe more," said Crowder.
With the robot, doctors don't have to spread the muscle apart, so recovery time is much shorter.
"Using the robot, we can actually do surgery through very small incisions," said Crowder.
Smaller incisions mean less blood lost and the robot increases the accuracy rate from about 80 percent to 98 percent.
Surgeries are done at the Mercy Gilbert Hospital.
Melvin said he now feels great. He was able to get out of bed the day after surgery. Three days later he was back on the wrestling mat, thanks to Crowder and his robotic helper.
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