MARS is empowering surgeons with enhanced management, lowering affected person restoration occasions, and streamlining hospital operations by way of progressive magnetic expertise.
Dr. Alberto Rodriguez-Navarro is advancing minimally invasive surgical procedure together with his progressive expertise, the MARS Surgical System.
“Our function as an organization is to develop expertise to empower the surgeon. That’s why we see our newest growth, MARS Surgical System, making surgical procedure higher.”
Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro is a surgeon and the CEO, Founder, and President of Levita® Magnetics, a medical tools manufacturing firm established in 2011. For the previous 13 years, he and his group have developed proprietary expertise that maximizes the advantage of minimally invasive surgical procedure—for each surgeons and sufferers.
“We began with a guide system [magnetic surgery], through which it’s a must to transfer the magnet along with your hand. Now, we’ve advanced to create a robotic system that controls the motion of the magnet.”
What does this imply for surgeons?
The MARS System, which leverages Levita Magnetics’ proprietary Dynamic Magnetic Positioning expertise, builds on the medical advantages of the Levita Magnetic Surgical System offering quicker restoration, much less ache, and fewer scars for sufferers. However now, the group has developed surgeon-controlled arms permitting full management over the laparoscopic view and the magnetic retractor.
The MARS system provides surgeons “two additional arms” for instrument management, in addition to digital camera stability, eradicating the necessity for added help, which customary belly surgical procedures require.
“MARS represents a noteworthy development and is a part of the pathway to boost minimally invasive surgical procedure for healthcare establishments, surgeons, and most significantly, for sufferers. It’s additionally remarkably simple to make use of,” stated Prof Dr. Matthew Kroh, MD, vice chair of innovation and expertise on the Cleveland Clinic, who carried out the primary process with the brand new system final September 2023.
“We goal to point out that this revolutionary expertise can empower surgeons with elevated management and higher visualization whereas lowering the variety of incisions, delivering vital affected person advantages,” says Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro.
For Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro, who labored for almost ten years as a surgeon and carried out over 3,000 laparoscopic surgical procedures, it is a main feat within the development of minimally invasive surgical procedures.
Levita is headquartered in Silicon Valley, and the MARS System is FDA-approved and presently out there within the U.S. and Chile. It’s cleared for laparoscopic bariatric surgical procedures, cholecystectomy (gallbladder), prostate, and colorectal procedures.
“We invented a system to deploy a magnetic piece contained in the stomach, after which utilizing a strong exterior magnet, we generate the motion to cut back the variety of incisions usually wanted for the surgical procedure,” Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro explains. “That’s the core profit—we cut back the variety of incisions for the affected person. In the meantime, the surgeon maintains the flexibility to carry out the process in a quick and dependable approach.”
Whereas it could be simpler for surgeons to proceed performing customary procedures, studying and integrating this new system has a “triple affect” for sufferers, surgeons, and hospitals—and aids in offering extra environment friendly, economical care.
The present state of the U.S. healthcare system is dire—a really circulated subject—and Duquesne College forecasts a scarcity of greater than 29,400 nurse practitioners by 2025. Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro’s system removes the necessity for a further assistant throughout procedures and cuts restoration time for sufferers. The MARS System is straightforward to make use of, as Prof Dr. Matthew Kroh famous above, and also can “play a serious function within the transition of excessive quantity belly procedures to an ambulatory or same-day discharge setting,” says Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro.
In 2018, there have been 9.6 million inpatient working room procedures of which 11.2% have been MIS and a pair of.9% have been robotic-assisted. Cholecystectomy (gallbladder removing) surgical procedure is likely one of the most typical procedures carried out worldwide, and Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro positions Levita Magnetics as a cost-effective medical innovation to minimize the demand on the present healthcare system.
“That’s the chance that we see. We are able to carry an answer that may be a fraction of the price of different robotic leaders in surgical procedure, plus the medical profit and the discount of personnel, to make the process more cost effective. That’s our alternative available in the market,” he says.
In April, Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro carried out the first-ever augmented actuality belly surgical procedure in Santiago, Chile utilizing the MARS System and Meta Quest 3 headset. “It opens a brand new world for the way the surgeon can entry [data] in real-time in the course of the surgical procedure,” he instructed Fox Information Digital. “It is going to be a revolution in how surgical procedures are carried out, and I’m very comfortable [about] how expertise is empowering surgeons to do extra.”
Whereas the early phases of Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro’s ideations confronted criticism and doubt, he understood that preliminary resistance is regular for any new expertise, and right this moment he and his group have confirmed the effectiveness and revolutionary capabilities of magnetic surgical procedure.
“Our aim as an organization is to proceed to develop instruments for surgeons to have higher surgical outcomes,” Dr. Rodriguez-Navarro concludes. “Robots, AI, and magnets will likely be utilized closely in surgical procedures within the coming years.”
To study extra about Levita Magnetics, go to the web site right here. To get in contact with Dr. Alberto Rodriguez-Navarro, attain out to him on LinkedIn.
VentureBeat newsroom and editorial employees weren’t concerned within the creation of this content material.
