Surgery gets less invasive

NEW TECHNIQUE: Thomas F. Patzelt, vice president of marketing at Medrobotics in Raynham, is seen in the company's lab with the Flexible Robotics System. Training on the equipment in the background is Dr. Giuseppe Spriano, left, an ENT surgeon from Italy, with Randy Haines, Medrobotics senior director of professional training and education. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
NEW TECHNIQUE: Thomas F. Patzelt, vice president of marketing at Medrobotics in Raynham, is seen in the company's lab with the Flexible Robotics System. Training on the equipment in the background is Dr. Giuseppe Spriano, left, an ENT surgeon from Italy, with Randy Haines, Medrobotics senior director of professional training and education. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Medrobotics Corp. believes it has changed the field of invasive surgery, with the first-ever surgical tool that can snake through the human body, without disturbing other anatomy, to reach previously difficult-to-access regions.

The Flexible Robotics System has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale in the U.S. The system navigates through the body using a high-definition vision system. It is made up of a long hose that starts out flexible and then becomes rigid once the surgeon has reached the target point.

Thomas F. Patzelt, vice president of marketing, says the system is most commonly used by ear, nose and throat doctors who were often unable to access secluded parts of the throat prior to the Raynham-based company’s technology.

The benefits of this surgical tool can be felt by a wide array of patients, he explained. “There were patients who would have to go through more invasive surgeries that could include splitting the jaw. Now, more patients are able to avoid those types of surgeries.”

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Medrobotics succeeded initially in Europe in 2014 when it was allowed to market its technology, as long as the company performed a clinical trial simultaneously.

“In December 2015 we completed an 80-patient clinical trial in Europe and the results, we expect, will be presented later this year,” said Patzelt.

Since the completion of Medrobotics’ European clinical trial, three hospitals in Germany and one in Belgium have begun using the Flexible Robotics System in their day-to-day surgical schedule.

In July 2015, after Medrobotics received FDA approval in the United States, it began to market the Flexible Robotics System here.

Through a joint project with Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was the first hospital in the United States to purchase the system to use the tool to complete a surgery.

Medrobotics was founded in 2006 by professor Howie Choset of Carnegie Mellon University and cardiac surgeon Dr. Marco Zenati.

In its application for a 2015 Providence Business News Fastest Growing & Innovative Companies award, which it won last fall in the biotechnology and life sciences category, Medrobotics projected it would “add more than 100 jobs and more than $100 million in revenue over the next three to five years.”

Patzelt said the company is well on the way to achieving that goal.

Southern New England, and Rhode Island in particular, has played a large part in the company’s growth.

“We’re able to take advantage of the highly educated and experienced workforces here, which is one of the reasons the company relocated to [New England],” Patzelt said.

This year will be an exciting one for Medrobotics, Patzelt promised.

“In 2016 we’re going to have our first clinical data published. We will release multiple products and … enhancements to all aspects of the Flexible Robotics System. The system has a robotic scope, visualization and instruments – all of which will be enhanced this year.” •

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