US-based medical technology company Xenco Medical has launched the first interactive vending machines for spine surgery instruments and implants.

The interactive vending machines are intended to house, track and dispense its 100% disposable spine surgery implant and instrument systems, which are made using durable composite polymer.

They are Wi-Fi-enabled and leverage an elevator-based system to retrieve each sterile-packaged Xenco Medical product before dispensing it for surgical use.

Xenco has included a touchscreen interface in the interactive machines for enabling selection of the required instruments and implants. Users can also send real-time alerts to the company’s headquarters.

In addition, the vending machines include virtual tutorials on Xenco Medical products featuring a virtual assistant called Ezra.

The company noted that single-use instruments and corresponding spinal implants are lightweight and easily transportable.

Furthermore, Xenco’s sterile-packaged, instruments and single-use implant systems are designed to improve efficiency in the operating room (OR) and also avoid the internal logistics related to the autoclave process.

Xenco Medical founder and CEO Jason Haider said: “Extremely encouraged by the market’s response to our disposable, composite polymer systems, we’ve employed advanced, logistics–based technologies to deepen the impact our disposable systems make in streamlining the healthcare supply chain.”

The company’s composite polymer spinal systems include SETx Cervical Interbody and Plate System, Pedicle Screw System, Posterior Cervical System and Lumbar Interbody system.

Xenco Medical developed its products for single, patient-specific use, contrary to standard metal instruments that are reused in several patients until a mechanical failure.

The single-use spinal systems have previously outperformed metal instruments in maintaining structural integrity, said the company.