ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Only a fraction of patients who could benefit from robotic-assisted surgery are treated that way due to the limited availability of robot-equipped operating rooms. With Virtual Incision’s MIRA System offering a miniaturized alternative to large mainframe robots, more clinics will be able to offer robotic procedures to a greater number of patients.
Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) can afford greater precision, stability, and ergonomics, helping surgeons avoid the strain and repetitive motions of an open operation and saving patients recovery time thanks to the smaller incisions needed. RAS has the potential to one day enable more remote procedures in settings that have unique constraints. But because today’s RAS systems are bulky, expensive pieces of capital equipment, they are typically only used by large clinics, limiting access to robotic procedures for smaller communities, rural populations, and others who cannot travel to a fully endowed surgical center.
Having performed his fair share of traditional, endoscopic, and robotic cases, Virtual Incision co-founder and chief surgeon Dmitry Oleynikov, MD, had a clinical vision: a miniaturized RAS device would be better suited for broad use than the standard machines. Small enough to fit in a surgical tray, a miniaturized design could enable RAS to be set up in any operating room by any staff familiar with handling common surgical instruments.
