New Top of Line Surgical Robot Launched by Intuitive Surgical
Intuitive Surgical Announced yesterday the addition of the da Vinci S model at the top of its robotic-assisted surgery product range. At $1.53 million, it will cost roughly $200,000 more than the existing models, which the company sold about 400 of. According to its vendor, the da Vinci S features fast and easy setup, rapid instrument exchange, multi-quadrant access and multi-image display capabilities. It is meant to support surgeon dexterity and control while lowering patient stays, complication rates, and post-op pain. For hospitals this should translate into better client satisfaction and reduced per-operation costs, provided they do enough procedures per year to reach break-even point.
The new device has four articulating arms (the fourth one was optional on previous models), offers a larger range of motion, an integrated patient cart touch screen and other improvements. Surgeons use the device by sitting a few feet from the patient while they operate. They see what’s going on through the robot’s screen and guide its arms which replicate hand movements in real time.
02/22/06 update: The Winston-Salem Journal features the device in this article with a useful infographic.
January 12, 2006 Related topics: Surgery