The human brain is critical to a child’s development. Within a few years of life, it enables us to sit, walk, talk and eventually make decisions. But for those suffering from neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, that journey can be complicated.

I am Dr. Sandrine deRibaupierre, paediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital in London, Ontario, Canada, and today I’ll be talking about The ROSA Robotic Arm, a life-changing technology that allows teams at LHSC’s Children’s Hospital to perform curative neurosurgeries on children with drug-resistant epilepsy.

The ROSA allows us to provide leading-edge care while saving staff time and resources, reducing wait and recovery times, and ultimately enhancing the quality of life for children with epilepsy.

My introduction for Dr. deRibaupierre:

Dr. Sandrine de Ribaupierre earned her MD at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. After a Neuro surgery residency in Lausanne, Switzerland, she completed an epilepsy fellowship in the Fondation Rothschild in Paris, then a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship in the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Dr. deRibaupierre is currently working as a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, in London, Ontario, with some involvement in adult trauma and skull base cases. 

In April 2022, she was appointed as Research Chair of Paediatric Neurosurgery and Neuroscience at Children’s Hospital at LHSC. In this role, she leads a multidisciplinary team to improve neurosurgery outcomes by furthering our understanding of brain development and how it is impacted by complex diagnoses like epilepsy, hydrocephalus, tumours and traumatic brain injury. The team also leverages augmented and virtual reality tools to improve surgical planning and the patient experience. Dr. deRibaupierre is also a Professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, where her main research areas are medical education, using virtual and augmented reality as an educational tool, with a special interest in neuro anatomy, and neuro imaging investigating both the normal brain development and how it is affected by some neurological pathologies.

Here are my questions for Sandrine:

Q. As a dad to a physician I understand that the road to your practice and research is rarely a straight one. Can you tell us about your path to this very niche practice and application of your surgical skills?

Q. Tell us about the impact the ROSA has had on patients and the neurosurgical team at LHSC’s Children’s Hospital?

Q. Is the technology developing rapidly and what work are you doing to advance children’s neurosurgeries through these technologies?

Q. So how do you stay ahead of the training and practicing skills when you’re just trying to get OR time and keep up with caring for your patients?

Q. You are focused on using a device called the ROSA One Brain Robotic Arm, allowing you to perform a procedure that pinpoints the location of epileptic seizures in patients for subsequent brain surgery.

Can you tell us more about the ROSA and how the robot assists you in this procedure?

Q. What does the ROSA mean for patients and families in your region? What is the reaction you would have from patients or their parents when they find out there will be a robot involved in their surgery?

Q. I understand that the ROSA robot came to you in March 2022. How much have you had the opportunity in the last year to work with the technology? What is notable about it? Does it improve speed or accuracy? Does it allow you to increase the number of surgeries can you do in a year?

Q. So I’m pretty sure that as in any surgery you have a team around you. How does a team