Robotics: Redefining Pediatric Neurosurgery

Pediatric neurosurgeon Jason Hauptman, MD, PhD, is driven by one goal: ensuring children receive the most advanced, precise and least-invasive treatments possible. That mission is made possible by both groundbreaking technology and the generosity of donors who believe in transforming care.

In fact, philanthropy played a pivotal role in bringing Dr. Hauptman to Phoenix Children’s. Recruiting a world-class neurosurgeon required world-class tools—and thanks to Kathleen Norton, a member of the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Advisory Council, and funding from the Norton Foundation, the hospital acquired the ROSA ONE Brain.

Now, Dr. Hauptman and his team use this cutting-edge robotic system to perform complex brain surgeries with unmatched accuracy—offering new hope to children with epilepsy and other neurological conditions when medication isn’t enough.

Children with epilepsy have seizures, which can lead to safety concerns and challenges in school, behavior, and social and emotional development. When medication doesn’t help, brain surgery may be the answer.

“The ROSA robot is bringing the most advanced, minimally invasive neurosurgery to the children of Arizona,” says Dr. Hauptman, division chief of pediatric neurological surgery and Caroline Hoeye Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery at Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s.

For this type of neurosurgery, surgeons need to accurately and precisely target a specific area of the brain. “Placing a 2-millimeter brain wire with accuracy of under a millimeter from outside the skull to somewhere deep in the brain is incredibly challenging,” Dr. Hauptman says. “And every patient’s brain is shaped a little differently.”

With ROSA, neurosurgeons use a computer system to plan exactly where to place things in the brain. “It shows me perfectly where to aim,” Dr. Hauptman says. “Plus, it can be done through incisions the size of my pinky fingernail, and it shaves off hours of surgery.”

Surgeons can use the robot to help them place wires that can determine where seizures are coming from—or to use a tiny laser probe to burn a brain tumor that’s causing seizures—and the patients usually go home the next day. “It’s really a big deal for minimally invasive precision neurosurgery,” Dr. Hauptman says.