5 Surgical Robotics Developments to Watch
Surgical robotics is advancing on several fronts.
Here are five developments worth tracking, from autonomous imaging and spine robotics to telesurgery and large-scale clinical evidence.
Ropca's ultrasound AI earns FDA clearance
Ropca received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Arthur and Diana systems.
The two systems perform and interpret musculoskeletal ultrasound scans without a sonographer at the console.
An independent abstract presented at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting found the system's automated readings matched expert rheumatologist assessment.
Source: Ropca
Enovis moves on spine robotics
Enovis entered into a binding offer to acquire eCential Robotics.
The proposed deal values eCential at an upfront enterprise value of €155 million, with additional contingent payments tied to milestones.
eCential's Op.n platform combines spine navigation with active robotics and has FDA 510(k) clearance for spine surgery.
The transaction still depends on completion of a works council consultation process required under French law.
The acquisition announcement comes from the companies involved and does not itself provide independent evidence of clinical performance.
Source: Enovis
AiM Medical Robotics lands a federal grant for brain cancer treatment
AiM Medical Robotics was awarded a $2 million Phase II SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute.
The funding supports a first-in-human feasibility study of the company's MRI-guided robotic platform for ablative brain cancer treatment.
The two-year study is planned for the Advanced Multimodality Image-Guided Operating Suite at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The important next step is the transition from an investigational robotic platform to first-in-human clinical testing.
SS Innovations performs the first telesurgery within the Philippines
SS Innovations used its SSi Mantra system to perform the first telesurgery within the Philippines.
The procedure connected Pampanga and Cotabato, a distance of roughly 1,070 miles.
The company reports 188 cumulative robotic telesurgeries completed with the SSi Mantra to date.
The Philippines procedure is a significant operational milestone for the company, although the reported figure is a company-reported result rather than an independently audited or peer-reviewed dataset.
Intuitive publishes the largest da Vinci outcomes analysis to date
Intuitive announced the publication of a peer-reviewed meta-analysis in Annals of Surgery Open.
The analysis included more than 14 million da Vinci, laparoscopic, and open procedures across 13 common benign conditions.
Compared with laparoscopic and open surgery, da Vinci surgery was associated with 37% lower odds of requiring pain medication within 30 days.
The analysis also found that average operative time was approximately 46 minutes longer with da Vinci.
The study was led by Thomas H. Shin, MD, PhD, of Mass General Brigham, with researchers from the University of Virginia and Intuitive among the co-authors.
Source: Intuitive Surgical
Five different signals
These developments show five different ways surgical robotics is moving forward:
FDA clearance: Ropca
Industry consolidation: Enovis and eCential
Clinical translation: AiM Medical Robotics
Remote surgery: SS Innovations
Large-scale clinical evidence: Intuitive
The interesting part is the breadth. Surgical robotics is developing simultaneously in imaging, navigation, intervention, connectivity, and clinical evidence.
