A Windsor teenager is feeling great after becoming the first pediatric patient in Ontario to have spinal surgery with the Medtronic Mazor robotic spine platform.
The London Health Sciences Centre got this device back in 2025, but when Paige Hillman, 14, had her surgery in March, she was the very first pediatric patient to go through the process.
This scoliosis correction procedure aims to straighten the spine using rods and screws. The Mazor technology enhances precision and speed, leading to better outcomes and quicker recovery times.
Paige’s mom, Melissa Hillman, also deals with scoliosis and understands the pain associated with it. With guidance from the team of doctors at Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, they concluded that this was the best option for Paige.
“I was a little scared at first. I did a lot of Googling to make sure I knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into, with the doctor’s help explaining everything to us, and we decided this is probably the best procedure for her,” said Melissa Hillman.
Paige also mentioned feeling nervous but liked being part of something new in Ontario.
“It felt cool because I told my friends about it, and they kept saying that I’m going to be famous and all that, but I’m not going to be that famous. I thought that was fun, but I was also a little bit scared because I’ve never had a surgery before,” said Paige Hillman.
Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Patrick Thornley noted that Paige was an ideal candidate for this operation.
“She had appropriate anatomy that would allow us to instrument the spine and get a great correction if we could have the robot place a couple of the more challenging screws on the concave side, which is the side that is the most rotated,” said Dr. Thornley.
The surgery turned out to be highly successful.
“We likely saved 15-20 minutes of operative time which has significant cost and patient benefit outcomes for her and we were able to get them all in a perfect position using the pre-planned software so then our correction was near radiographically perfect which is what we were hoping for,” said Dr. Thornley.
Dr. Thornley shared that after just six weeks of recovery time you wouldn’t even know Paige had undergone surgery.
“Her post-operative course was completely unremarkable, and we mean that in the best way possible. She was sitting at the side of the bed by the first evening and up and walking the next day and home on a rapid post-operative recovery pathway,” said Dr. Thornley.
Provided by London Health Sciences Centre Paige and Melissa reported she is back engaging in regular activities at home and ready to begin high school this fall.
“I’m hoping this means she’s not going to be in a lot of pain when she gets older. Hopefully she’ll be able to do everything normally without facing challenges like I do sometimes, so I’m hopeful she won’t have those issues as she ages,” said Melissa Hillman.
Both University Hospital as well as Victoria Hospital along with Children’s Hospital sites now have their own Mazor robotic platforms; so far surgeons across LHSC have carried out between 10 to 15 procedures using this technology across different age groups and conditions.
“I think we’ve had great success with Paige as our first case, now that we’re past her acute post-op period we’ve seen she’s done excellently with this approach; I believe there will be growing comfort using it on future patients,” said Dr. Thornley.
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