Meadville Medical Center is the first hospital in this region to perform its spine surgery procedures using the StealthStation S8, which is a surgical navigation system designed to help surgeons perform accurate procedures in the operating room.

The system offers the most advanced version of Stealth technology — a combination of medical-grade hardware, software and specialized instruments — for neurosurgery and spine procedures.

Computer-based surgical navigation solutions have been used as a tool by doctors in operating rooms for many years. Surgical navigation is key to offering enriched visual and quantified information to a surgeon during spine surgery for accurate tool localization and possible avoidance of key anatomical areas of the brain.

“We will be using Stealth Navigation at Meadville Medical Center to enhance our surgical patient care,” said orthopedic spine surgeon Michael Ghassibi, DO. “It provides us with added confidence during surgery. Patients benefit because the surgeon has real-time data during the surgery to allow for accuracy in treatment.”

Stealth technology has been used in surgical suites for more than 25 years and has assisted in more than 3.5 million procedures. The StealthStation S8 enhances previous generations with an intuitive new software interface, high-definition touchscreen monitors and advanced imaging capabilities that allow the surgeon to use pre-operative data during the surgery. Patient registration improvements allow the surgeon more flexibility in registration, while providing quantitative feedback. It also offers planning components so the surgeon can load and review pre-operative data assess the procedure and anatomical steps before the patient enters the surgical suite.