HAMILTON, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) \u2014 What used to mean a long, painful recovery is now being redefined by technology at Community Memorial Hospital<\/p>\n
The hospital is offering robotic spine surgery, joining its existing robotic knee program. It\u2019s all part of a partnership between Dr. Nicholas Qandah, a neurosurgeon, and the Hamilton-based facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients would spend a week or two in the hospital and have incisions close to 10 inches long. Now we\u2019re doing the same surgery with minimally invasive incision on each side, maybe an inch, an inch and a half in size, and patients are going home the same day,\u201d Qandah, DO, neurosurgeon of Central New York Brain and Spine Neurosurgery and the memorial hospital.<\/p>\n
Qandah introduced the robot to the hospital in 2025 and now performs robotic spine surgery on patients each week.<\/p>\n
The robot is used for a wide range of spine procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s a small disk, disk replacement, artificial disk, spinal fusion, minimally invasive, disc replacement, fractures, kyphoplasty, we do it all,\u201d said Qandah.<\/p>\n
Focusing on precision and better patient outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more satisfying than seeing a patient who\u2019s in pain or having neurological problems to go home and recover nicely and be able to get back with their grandkids and families and have fun summers,\u201d said Qandah.<\/p>\n
Qandah says it\u2019s not just local patients that are going to CMH for robotic spine surgery, people are traveling from across the region, and even the state, including Albany and Saratoga, to take advantage of this technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients are becoming more educated and want to be more involved in their care, and those are the most successful patients,\u201d said Qandah.<\/p>\n