Catching up again... Took a few days away, which was nice!
OR Nurse, all your recent posts have been right on point! The OR picture a couple days ago was certainly interesting. I was picturing both surgeon consoles being active and the docs fighting it out like Rock'm Sock'm Robots but inside the patient! Speaking of which... There appeared to be no patient! The drapes hung over the foot of the table with no contours of either a patient head or his/her feet. Obviously staged with no intention of looking realistic, maybe staged by a competitor to make it look ludicrous? As to your "groundbreaking" points, kudos for those observations as well.
Anyway, on to "Groundbreaking"... To start, go to Titan's web site and re-watch the videos of surgeons who used the system two years ago. Start at the bottom of the page in order to watch a developing chronology of surgeon opinions, beginning nearly three years ago. A couple quick summaries here: From Dr. Swanstrom, he indicated that patients universally prefer a single port option for surgery, and that Titan offered an excellent solution to the issues of ergonomics for both the patient and for the surgeon, "an important advantage." Dr. Ruurda lamented the limitations of existing technologies where instruments cross over each other through a single port, making complex surgeries very difficult, whereas Titan has overcome that limitation. He additionally discussed the advantage of the larger "extraction place" versus 5mm ports for multiport procedures. Dr. Estape expanded much further on the advantages of snake arms in comparison to single site (with crossed over instruments) and straight instruments. "Much easier to train, much easier to teach... very encouraged by what I saw today..." "This opens up a huge world to single port surgery... for the majority of GYN patients and I think this will be a game changer in the world of GYN." Game changer sounds a lot like groundbreaking if you want to define each.
Okay, how about price point? As OR Nurse noted, it allows for PROFIT. Given that most hospitals have one dominant profit center which is surgery, that profit needs to be optimized whenever possible to support the rest of the hospital. Also, system pricing that puts robotic surgery within reach for smaller hospitals and surgicenters who cannot afford the current platforms seems like breaking new ground into a much wider market space. OR Nurse hit the nail on the head for that observation as well.
How about snake arms to reduce limitations on free-space motion? Separate 2D camera to visualize instrument insertion as well as to serve as a backup to the main 3D camera? Maintaining visualization when removing 3D camera for cleaning? A lens wash system to eventually eliminate the need for external lens cleaning? Single-use disposable cutting surfaces to ensure optimal sharpness for each case in an economical package? Sorry, but these are all features which are not currently available in the marketplace, therefore the term "groundbreaking" applies to all of them.
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When DaVinci came into our OR several years ago, I thought it was a joke. PRICE PER SHARE $685.
A monstrosity of a machine. Almost laughable. Thought this type of surgery will never last. Why would you significantly pay more to have the same surgery? Again, have you been in an operating room during arobotic procedure? I have trouble describing it. Those of you who have been in the room understand completely.
You talk about end effectors. DaVinci tracks the number of uses for their end pieces. I believe after 12 or 13 times, they get thrown away. The fact that Titan is discussing having end effectors strong enough for reuse is ground breaking.
Did you see the size of the complete robot? The smaller footprint itself is ground breaking.
Finally, bottom line, what is ground breaking to hospitals and surgery centers is COST. Surgery centers and hospitals want BUSINESS. These organizations have changed. PROFIT is the name of the game.
I experienced the effect of COVID on healthcare organizations. Thousands of nurses laid off because elective cases could not be done. No help getting unemployment. Saw videos of firemen and policemen driving to hospitals with their lights on in support of nurses. National news for nursing support. Thanks to our essential healthcare staff. Meanwhile, the truth is these healthcare organizations were laying their staff off to save money while getting billions of dollars in COVID relief funds.
Do some research on nursing layoffs during COVID and relief to healthcare facilities. And now that government has allowed elective surgeries to return even though COVID cases are spiking, do you think government are going to stop elective surgeries again? No way in hell. The money train is back chugging again.
So the design of the end effectors may not be groundbreaking. Agreed. But Titan has patented snake arms and other improvements that will allow them to play in the game. A game that only has one player. ISRG.
If a hospital or surgery center wants to make money, they need to recruit surgeons. If surgeons want a SPORT to do their surgeries, hospitals and surgery centers will buy them. And when surgery centers and hospitals learn they can buy them for less money and it will ACTUALLY fit in their ORs BAM! it is a win win. And when the ultimate piece of the puzzle learns about SPORT the patient or consumer(again, healthcare is a BUSINESS) look out!!! A patient learns that a surgery can be done through one incision, the umbilicus with no scars??? You can't be serious????? SIGN ME UP!!! WHERE DO I WRITE THE CHECK????
I can just hear the conversation at the beach.
"You had a hysterectomy? Where is your scar?
Ever heard of the SPORT? They go through your belly button.
No scar? You can't be serious!!!!"
