A Doctor with X-ray Vision

When Mike Rosenthal, 46, learned that orthopedic surgeon Brian Mayeda, MD, would be using an augmented-reality system that would allow him to see inside a patient’s body while performing a total hip replacement, the Hermosa Beach resident recalls, “I said, ‘I want to be part of that!’ I was excited about it. I had done a lot of research about hip replacement, because I had known this day was coming since 2006. I was ready.”

But the benefit to Mike wasn’t just being part of a Star Trek–like medical experience. The former NFL offensive lineman was able to leave Providence Little Company of Mary on crutches the same day Dr. Mayeda performed the surgery—a feat unimaginable a decade earlier. “It far exceeded my expectations,” Mike says of his post-surgery recovery. “The first two days I felt a little tired and achy, but by the third day I was able to go to work.” He returned to his job as athletic director at Mira Costa High School. “It was pretty amazing,” he says.

The difference is Dr. Mayeda’s skill with a micro-invasive surgical approach that the HipInsight mixed-reality navigation system helps facilitate. While most surgeons performing a hip replacement make an incision from the front or the back, Dr. Mayeda performs a “percutaneous-assisted total hip,” which utilizes a smaller incision closer to the side of the hip. This approach spares the iliotibial (IT) band and the muscles around the hip, which can otherwise take a long time to heal and extend recovery time.

X-RAY VISION

Dr. Mayeda, who was one of the first users of HipInsight after its maker, Surgical Planning Associates, received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2021, says, “When I saw HipInsight for the first time, I was mind-blown. Not only is it a great benefit to my patients, but it’s a really fun way to do surgery. I grew up in the generation where video games were part of my reality.”

To date, Dr. Mayeda, who specializes in hip and knee surgeries, has employed HipInsight’s Microsoft HoloLens 2 headset—which he says gives him “X-ray vision”—in more than 40 surgeries, including the first of its kind performed in California. He says he loves not having to switch between looking at a computer screen to check CT scans and then back to the patient on the operating table. He can simply look down at the patient, viewing the QR code target affixed to the person’s body, and see a dimensional image of their pelvis and hip joint.

But that’s not the only way HipInsight helps. It’s also key in pre-planning hip surgeries. Based on preoperative CT scans, HipInsight shows Dr. Mayeda a 3D simulation of the patient’s pelvis with the correctly sized hip-socket cup implant in place. “It shows me where the instruments will be; it projects what it should look like,” he says. The pre-visualization streamlines the actual surgery, minimizing the incision size, eliminating repeated X-rays and reducing bleeding and infection risk. “The advantage of HipInsight is that I can see virtually more than I can with my own eyes,” Dr. Mayeda says. “Now I don’t need a bigger incision just to see what’s there.”

Dr. Mayeda continues to be excited about the potential of the mixed-reality technology in surgery. “My joy is where this is going,” he says. “HipInsight reveals what the possibilities are. Conceptually, you could do this with all sorts of surgeries.”

REPEAT CUSTOMER

Mike doesn’t blame his pro football career for his damaged hips. “I always had problems with my hips,” he says. “I joked that my hips were so bad that they protected my knees.” Unlike many former athletes, Mike can say, “My knees are great.”

But his left hip isn’t, so he’s looking forward to a second surgery with Dr. Mayeda. Even with only one hip replaced, though, the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings veteran has already seen dramatic improvement in his quality of life. “Before the surgery, just getting a sock on my foot was the worst part of my day. In the six months before the surgery, I was in constant pain,” he says. “People have commented how my posture has gone back to normal from my ‘caveman front lean.’ It’s been a new lease on life.”

He says Dr. Mayeda had promised him that the previous surgery would be “life-changing” in a good way, and it has been. “Dr. Mayeda was really confident in how he would perform the surgery,” Mike recalls. “It was comforting to know he believed in how he was going to do it.”

For more information on Providence Little Company of Mary hospitals, call 844-925-0942.