Chinanews.com, Shanghai News, December 22 (Xu Jing) Shanghai Minimally Invasive Medical Robot (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MicroPort Robot”), a subsidiary of MicroPort Medical Science Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MicroPort ® ® Group”), and Professor Zhang Zhongtao’s team of Beijing Friendship Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, and related units independently developed Toumai ® single-arm endoscopic surgical robot (hereinafter referred to as “Toumai ® single arm”) The team of Professor Zhang Zhongtao and the team of Professor Li Xun from the First Hospital of Lanzhou University jointly completed the first human trial of single-port laparoscopic robotic cholecystectomy (First-in-Man, FIM) in China.
This marks the first time that China’s self-developed single-arm laparoscopic surgical robot has completed human trials and been successfully used in digestive surgery, and it is also a major progress made in the “13th Five-Year Plan” National Key R&D Program chaired by Professor Zhang Zhongtao.
Since the launch of the clinical program in 2020, Toumai’s ® multi-arm endoscopic surgical robot has continuously challenged difficult surgeries in urology, general surgery, thoracic surgery, and gynecology, and assisted clinical experts to achieve a number of milestones with important clinical value. On December 30, 2020, Professor Zhang Dahong of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital operated the Tumai ® multi-arm laparoscopic robot and completed the first single-port partial nephrectomy, which is the first domestic laparoscopic surgical robot single-port surgery in China. The success of the first Toumai ® single-arm robotic single-port surgery marks that Minimally Invasive ® Robotics has become the first innovative company in China to enter the clinical trial stage of laparoscopic robotic multi-arm and single-arm multi-pipeline products.
Professor Zhang Zhongtao said that the domestic Toumai ® surgical robot that completed the human trial this time adopts a unique single-arm structure, has completely independent intellectual property rights, is flexible in movement and convenient in operation. Its serpentine design device achieves 7 degrees of freedom in a small space, and is designed to be refined and easy to operate. For cholecystectomy, the surgical incision is located in the umbilical foramen, which does not affect the aesthetics after surgery, and the patient accepts it well. Compared with multi-hole robotic surgery, it also has the advantages of smaller incision, less invasive to tissues, short positioning time of the robotic system, and large positioning space, and has broad clinical application prospects.
Dr. He Chao, President of MicroPort ® Robotics, said that at present, the single-arm laparoscopic surgical robot is a blank field of medical devices in China, and there are no domestic and foreign products approved for listing in the Chinese market. ® This test is another test of the underlying technology system and cutting-edge innovation ability of minimally invasive ® robots, and it is also a further field expansion of Toumai’s ® laparoscopic surgical solutions. The company will continue to strengthen close cooperation with clinical experts, deepen cutting-edge exploration and technological innovation, and provide physicians and patients with more robotic intelligent surgery solutions that can prolong and reshape their lives.
