West Palm Beach, Florida – February 15, 2024 -HCA Florida JFK North Hospital proudly announces a new era in healthcare innovation with the introduction of cutting-edge X-ray Vision Spine Surgery technology to the Palm Beach community. This groundbreaking achievement signifies a significant milestone for HCA Florida Healthcare JFK North Hospital and will elevate the standard of spine surgery in the region.
HCA Florida JFK North Hospital has successfully completed an innovative spine surgery using Augmented Reality (AR) navigation system, putting the hospital in the forefront of medical technology. Dr. William Aaron Kunkle, a board-certified Adult Spine Surgeon specializing in minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgery, led the pioneering surgery, making history as the first in Palm Beach County to utilize “x-ray vision” during a spine procedure.
The newly implemented AR navigation system provides surgeons, notably Dr. Kunkle, with unprecedented accuracy and visualization capabilities during spine surgery. Described as “x-ray vision,” this revolutionary technology permits surgeons to see patients’ anatomy in real-time, enabling precise navigation of instruments and implants. This breakthrough augmented reality allows Dr. Kunkle to take spine surgery to the next level.
Dr. Kunkle, expressed his excitement, stating, “This augmented reality will help improve our instrumentation and our outcomes with our surgical intervention with our patients.”
HCA Florida JFK North Hospital, CEO Ashley Vertuno shared her enthusiasm by stating, “We are thrilled to bring this revolutionary new technology to the Palm Beach market”. “This will allow our community to experience cutting-edge effectiveness.” The enhanced accuracy and precision offered by this breakthrough technology represent a significant advancement in spine surgery, allowing for improved patient outcomes and recovery time.
This milestone reflects HCA Florida JFK North Hospital’s unwavering commitment to advancing surgical approaches and delivering superior results in spine surgery. The introduction of X-ray Vision Spine Surgery technology emphasizes the hospital’s dedication to providing state-of-the-art healthcare services to the Palm Beach community.
For media inquiries, please contact: Narupa Baldeosingh
About HCA Healthcare
Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals and approximately 2,300 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 37 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives.
About HCA Florida JFK North Hospital
Serving Palm Beach County for close to 50 years, HCA Florida JFK North Hospital is a 280-bed full-service acute care hospital accredited as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center. Within minutes of I-95, the hospital’s 24-hour emergency room provides specialized hospital services for adults and children of all ages. Our hospital specializes in emergency services, in-patient and out-patient behavioral health services for pediatric, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients, spine surgery, general surgery, gastrointestinal including manometry/motility. Interventional radiology, orthopedic surgery, including minimally-invasive robotic surgery, urology and vascular, provide high-quality patient care to residents of West Palm Beach and the surrounding communities.
