Mercy Medical Center breaks new ground with mixed reality technology platform for shoulder surgery

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Mercy Medical Center Tuesday announced it has become the first health care organization in the mid-Atlantic region to offer shoulder arthroplasty using a new mixed reality technology platform known as Blueprint Mixed Reality (MR) Guidance.

Mercy’s Dr. Gregory Gasbarro, a board certified, shoulder fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon at The Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist and Hand Center at Mercy, is only the sixth surgeon in the U.S. to perform shoulder replacement surgery utilizing this new technology.

The Blueprint Mixed Reality system overlays 3D holographic images with real-life, enabling the surgeon to maintain a direct view of the surgical site while simultaneously visualizing and manipulating a holographic representation of the patient’s anatomy and the surgeon’s pre-operative plan.

An FDA-cleared medical device, the Blueprint Mixed Reality Guidance System is designed to allow surgeons to execute their surgical plan within two millimeters and two degrees of their pre-operative plan. The technology allows a surgeon to plan and execute the surgery based on precise images of the patient’s shoulder, so there is far less risk of the implant being placed improperly, Gasbarro said.

Founded in 1874 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Medical Center is a university-affiliated teaching facility and Catholic hospital with a national reputation for women’s health care, orthopedics and other specialties. Mercy is home to the acclaimed Weinberg Center for Women’s Health & Medicine and the more than $400 million Mary Catherine Bunting Center.