Robotics company Medical Microinstruments (MMI) is looking to expand the use of its Symani surgical system.

The company announced it has completed a preclinical study evaluating its surgical robot in neurosurgical procedures.

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As part of the study, Dr Adnan Siddiqui, chief executive officer and chief medical officer of the Jacobs Institute, successfully repaired a blood vessel in the brain in an animal model. The study aimed to assess the feasibility of using the Symani system for neurological conditions and obtain user feedback, from a neurosurgeon, on the system.

“Symani offered added control that allowed me to access and repair a vein just under 1mm in diameter, with clips spaced 4mm apart,” said Dr Siddiqui.

“It required techniques that would be extraordinarily difficult for most micro-neurosurgeons to replicate without robotic assistance, using sutures so small they are barely visible to the naked eye. Based on this excellent initial experience, I have no doubt Symani could be highly effective during a wide range of complex neurosurgical procedures with the development of additional microsurgical tools. In fact, I believe it is ready for superficial temporal to middle cerebral artery bypass surgery today.”

The Symani system allows surgeons to perform microsurgery and super-microsurgery by replicating human hand movements on a tiny scale. In April 2024, it received de novo clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for soft tissue manipulation in microsurgery, a technique involving intricate vessel reconnection to restore blood flow or redirect fluids during reconstruction or repair.

The market for surgical robots was worth approximately $7.2bn in 2023 and it is expected to have a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%, as per GlobalData analysis. The market growth is propelled by the incorporation of newer technologies such as AI and 5G.

In December 2023, Microbot Medical partnered with Corewell Health to develop telerobotics between remote centres using the Liberty endovascular robotic surgical system. Telerobotics functionality will allow for the surgical procedure to occur without the surgeon’s presence at the concerned site.