Every surgery requires something called “Exposure” and this is not debatable. If a surgeon or assistant cannot see the surgical field they simply can not perform a surgical procedure, it is a simple fact of dissection.
So how does a surgical team obtain exposure of target anatomy?
Through a process called “dissection” that requires hands, fingers and instruments. Four hands (and sometimes 5) are utilized to “expose” and operate on the anatomical structure that need to be excised (look it up). Laparoscopic procedure does not allow for easy retraction that is realized during open procedures. So mechanical (RASD) retraction is necessitated with a robotic 4th arm.
Prior to Laparoscopic surgery, surgeons could utilize open surgical techniques for retraction with either a Bookwalter, Thompson or Balfour. These instruments can not be used with Laparoscopic procedures.
Too bad for ALF.
ALF was CE marked in Europe in 2013 and they allowed 4 arms to necessitate counter traction. The rooms were HUGE and they were utilized for CLINICAL trials. They were also NOT PRACTICAL.
The FDA knew this and so did Pope. Pope went with it anyways and (as per his statements) was (working) with the FDA to obtain “Approval”. Well, Pope got approval on his newly named “Alf” only after he either removed the 4th arm or the FDA flat out rejected it. I suspect the latter as Pope stated, “In order to expedite FDA approval” on a Conference call LOL.
Bottom line... Pope wanted ALF Alf Approval no matter what. He doesn’t care about investors, he doesn’t care about product and he CERTAINLY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT PATIENTS.
He cares about lining his pockets no matter what.
Buyer Beware.
