Apollo Hospitals Performs Complex Spinal Surgery on 10-Year-old

CHENNAI, October 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Renaissance™ Robotic Technology Introduced in Asia-Pacific
• The 12^th Successful Completion of Complex Spinal Surgeries Within 10 Days
• Foreign Patients Have Also Been Treated Successfully

Apollo Hospitals performed a complex spinal surgery on a 10-year-old child. This was the 12^th successful surgery done within 10 days of the launch of Renaissance Robotic Technology - the only technology specifically designed for spine surgery. Apollo Hospitals Group is the first in the Asia-Pacific to offer this surgical guidance system, which is a minimally-invasive robotic-guided spine surgery.

A 10-year-old girl from Gujarat, Heema was born with congenital anomalies that left her with a severely deformed spine. Before being admitted to Apollo Hospitals, the child had already undergone multiple procedures that had failed and left her with rods placed in her back, broken at multiple places, and a spine that was grotesquely deformed.

The team of doctors faced several challenges in treating the child. But Renaissance™ Robotic Technology allowed a successful spinal fixation with extreme precision and safety in carrying out the delicate maneuver to correct the deformed spine. A child otherwise doomed to go through life with the severe deformity - which could have led to premature death due to cardiopulmonary failure or eventual paralysis - can now lead a normal life like any other 10-year-old.

"After a comprehensive 18 months study of Mazor Robotics' Renaissance™ in Europe and the USA, we found this to be the safest, most accurate minimally-invasive technology for spinal surgical procedures. This technology helped us in treating Heema, ensuring less pain, smaller incisions, shorter hospitalisations and faster recovery for the child. Conventional forms of such surgeries are more challenging due to the surgeon's lack of direct line-of-vision, requiring many intra-operative X-rays to compensate for this. The Spinal Robot overcomes these challenges, providing patients with the best possible clinical results and with minimal intra-operative radiation to both patients and surgeons," said Dr. Sajan K Hedge, Head of Spine Unit at Apollo Hospitals.

Foreign patients have also benefitted from this treatment at Apollo Hospitals. Two young patients from Oman were admitted with severe back pain, which was also running down both their legs. Both patients had previously taken non-operative treatment in Oman, without any relief whatsoever. One of the patients was 36-year-old Sulaiman Mohammad, who had suffered pain for more than two years, which then began affecting his regular activities. Both patients underwent Robot-assisted minimally-invasive spine surgery. After the surgery, both have been free of pain and are now walking normally.

Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospital said, "Robotics and minimally-invasive surgeries have been a strong focus for Apollo Hospital in recent years. We believe in providing the best medical technologies for our patients. Once we recognized the positive impact that Spinal Robotics would have on patient outcomes, the decision was easy to bring in this technical marvel with close cooperation from our Robotics technology partner Advanced Medical Systems (AMS) Singapore. AMS has also developed with us 'The CyberKnife' Robotic Radio surgery project successfully at Apollo Cancer Specialty Hospital, Chennai. This is a Rs 30-crore cancer therapy system, successfully treating patients for the past three years with extreme tumour-targeted precision. The Spinal Robotics will likewise offer precision, accuracy and minimally-invasive spinal surgery at Apollo Hospitals."

Apollo Hospital is a referral centre for spine surgeries and a pioneer in minimally-invasive surgeries. The facility also has a reputation as an established leader in spine surgery as well as in adopting the latest technologies for patient care.

"As demand for quality healthcare grows, medical device analysts are projecting robust growth rates in the Asia-Pacific region, with recent reports indicating medical device growth rate of 23% in India alone," stated Romesh Kaul, President and Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Medical Systems Pvt Ltd (AMS), turnkey technology systems and services provider of Renaissance Spinal Robotics System to Apollo Hospitals.

About Advanced Medical Systems Pvt Ltd.

Founded in 1988, Advanced Medical Systems is an established medical devices organization offering innovative multi-disciplinary solutions for centers of excellence across the Asia Pacific region in radiology, neurosciences, orthopedics, and oncology. It is the only organization of its kind to offer a complete range of services required for turnkey facility planning, technology implementation, training, management, and finance. Headquartered in the Republic of Singapore, AMS directly serves the Asia Pacific healthcare markets with operating bases and highly trained personnel in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and India for advanced imaging and minimally invasive therapy systems and services. For further information, visit http://www.amssg.com.

About Mazor Robotics

Mazor Robotics (MZOR.TA) is dedicated to the development and marketing of innovative surgical robots and complementary products that provide a safer surgical environment for patients, surgeons, and operating room staff. Mazor Robotics' flagship product, Renaissance™, is a state-of-the-art surgical robotic system that enables surgeons to conduct spine surgeries in an accurate and secure manner. Mazor Robotics systems have been successfully used in the placement of over 20,000 implants in the United States and Europe. Numerous peer-reviewed publications and presentations at leading scientific conferences have validated the accuracy, usability, and clinical advantages of Mazor Robotics technology. For more information, please visit http://www.mazorrobotics.com.

About Apollo Hospitals

In 1983, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, the architect of Indian healthcare, launched the first corporate hospital in India, Apollo Hospitals Chennai. Over the years, Apollo Hospitals Group has grown to become one of Asia's largest integrated healthcare organizations with over 8,500 beds across 50 hospitals, more than 1350 pharmacies and over 100 diagnostic clinics. The Group also offers medical business process outsourcing services, health insurance services and clinical research divisions with a focus on epidemiological studies, stem cell research and genetic research. To develop talent for the burgeoning need of superior healthcare delivery, Apollo Hospitals Group has 11 nursing and hospital management colleges. These achievements have earned Apollo Hospitals Group several accolades, including the Centre of Excellence from the Government of India and recognition from the Joint Commission International (seven of our hospitals are JCI accredited). In a rare honour, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in recognition of Apollo's contribution, the first for a healthcare organization. Apollo Hospitals Chairman, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, was conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, in 2010. Apollo Hospitals Group, for over 28 years, has continuously excelled and maintained leadership in medical innovation, world-class clinical services and cutting-edge technology. Our hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services and research. For more information visit http://www.apollohospitals.com.

Primary Media Contact: Ms. Parul Chhabra, parul_c@apollohospitals.com, 91-09810855410

Secondary Media Contact : Ms. Kusum Sahijpal, kusum_s@apollohospitals.com, 91-09999973090