Roen Surgical says it has completed a research demonstration of remote surgery with its Zamenix kidney stone surgery robot, together with Jeju Central Hospital. Park Geon-hyun, head of urology at the hospital, used a surgeon's console in Jeju to control the robot at the company's office in Gasan, Seoul, about 450 km away in a straight line.
The demonstration used Vital Uro, a urinary endoscopy simulator made by Roen Surgical, not a patient. The team carried out the whole kidney stone procedure remotely: inserting the endoscope, finding the stone, breaking it up with a laser and removing it by suction.
According to the company, Zamenix controls a 3 mm flexible endoscope robot and instruments such as a basket and laser fibre from one platform, and its breathing compensation and automatic driving functions worked remotely. The session lasted about an hour, without network problems or the need for emergency control.
Chief executive Kwon Dong-soo called it the first remote surgery research demonstration with a Korean surgical robot. The company plans new remote surgery products and expects to use the results in markets opening to telemedicine, such as the Middle East, Indonesia and Vietnam. Zamenix has US FDA 510(k) clearance and is used in 23 hospitals in South Korea and at one institution abroad.
Background
Roen Surgical
Surgical robot maker
Company that makes surgical robots, including the Zamenix robot for kidney stone surgery.
Zamenix
Surgical robot
A robot for kidney stone surgery that controls a flexible endoscope and surgical instruments from one platform.
