Advanced spinal robot used to help N.S. woman living with severe scoliosis

A Nova Scotia woman says her surgery at the QEII was 'nothing short of a miracle.'

A Nova Scotia woman says her surgery at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax was “nothing short of a miracle.”

Cheryl Bidgood credits her successful outcome to the latest technology available as well as the compassionate care she received.

She had been managing scoliosis since childhood, which was complicated by a neuromuscular disorder.

In recent years, her condition became unbearable.

“The pain was really off the charts. I was use to chronic pain, but this was way beyond that,” she said.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Glennie described her condition as “very severe.”

“So a double major curve, essentially, and she was having a number of other difficulties beyond the curvature, it was affecting all aspects of her day-to-day life,” he said.

Dr. Andrew Glennie led Bidgood’s surgery with the Mazor X, a donor-funded spinal robot.

The surgery was the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

“It changes things dramatically, the accuracy in which the screws are placed, is really second to none, the robotic arm is very precise,” Glennie says.

“What the QEII Foundation has contributed to our clinical space has been nothing short of amazing.”

Cheryl says she is also grateful for the generous donations that funded the $3 million-project spinal robot and gave her her life back.

“I can walk and breathe and eat and actually sleep again now. So I would whole-heartedly like to thank the QEII Foundation and its donors for just the foresight to invest in that robot and the research involved, and training the staff,” she says.

The MAZOR X was used to perform the first-ever robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canada in July 2022.

“(It) allows us, not only to improve the day-to-day patient care, but only participate in very important research into the evaluation of this technology because we’re really just scratching the surface right now,” Glennie says.

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