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CAMBRIDGE, England – CMR Surgical Ltd. Today announced that Galaxy Care Hospital in Pune, India is the first hospital in the world to procure the company’s Versius surgical robotic system. Under the leadership of Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, a range of surgical procedures have been conducted with Versius at the center for laparoscopy, including transthoracic, hysterectomies and myomectomies.
The introduction of Versius will support the hospital to bring robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery to more people, CMR said. Dr. Puntambekar, consultant oncologist, surgeon and medical director of Galaxy Care, will lead the team using Versius. He has led the way in bringing surgical robotics to India, having performed robotic-assisted surgery in the country for more than a decade.
The Versius system has a small form factor, versatility and portability, and is designed to support surgeons to deliver the benefits of minimal access surgery to patients around the world, CMR said. The form factor and modular design includes individually cart-mounted arms, allowing it to move between operating rooms and even hospitals/clinics, giving the surgical team access to patients at all times. By bio-mimicking the human arm, Versius gives surgeons the freedom of port placement, but with the benefits of small fully-wristed instruments. The system also includes 3D HD vision, easy-to-adopt instrument control and a choice of ergonomic working positions, aimed to reduce stress and fatigue to help extend the careers of surgeons, the company added.
Image: CMR Surgical Ltd.
“As an experienced surgeon in robotic assisted surgery, I think there is significant potential for Versius to further increase access to laparoscopic surgery for my patients, so it was a natural choice to acquire this system,” said Dr. Puntambekar. “Versius, as a small and cost-effective system, is well suited for meeting the high surgical demand in India. We are excited to bring the next-generation surgical robot to India.”
The commercial introduction of Versius also marks the launch of the world’s first clinical registry for a surgical robotics system, CMR Surgical said. The registry is part of the company’s commitment to post-market surveillance, as part of its IDEASL framework and a responsible introduction of a medical device, it said. Managed by CMR Surgical and working in partnership with customers, the clinical registry records and monitors the patient outcomes of all procedures conducted using the Versius in order to ensure patient safety. Outcome measures being recorded include operative time, length of stay, return to hospital within 30 days, and return to operating room within 24 hours.
“Galaxy Care has become our first customer to acquire and use Versius, and this is an important milestone in bringing the benefits of minimal access surgery to all,” said Mark Slack, chief medical officer at CMR Surgical. “We are pleased to be working with a center that has some of the best surgeons in the world, meeting a high surgical demand. It is important that we bring Versius to market responsibly, and we are delighted to be working closely with Galaxy Care on the introduction of Versius in the hospital.”
The company said further deployments of Versius are expected in hospitals across Europe later in 2019. CMR Surgical is a British private limited company founded in 2014. The company received the European CE Mark in March 2019 for the Versius robot.
