Intuitive Surgical upgrades da Vinci surgical system and recalls tools used by them

Intuitive Surgical announced FDA clearance and US introduction of their new da Vinci Xi Surgical System which has a movable overhead architecture rather than the fixed floor-mounted existing systems.

“The new overhead architecture means that multi-quadrant surgery can be performed without repositioning the system, an innovation long sought by surgeons,” said Gary Guthart, Intuitive CEO.

Additional features of the Xi system include:

• A new compact endoscope architecture with improved visual definition
• An ability to use the endoscope in any system arm
• Smaller, thinner arms with newly designed joints offering a greater range of motion
• Longer shafts designed to give surgeons greater operative reach

Recall:

Intuitive will recall 5,200 cannulae (tubes inserted into system single-port entry into the patient designed to optimize triangulation and provide unobstructed views of the surgical field) and replace them with an updated version that can withstand higher force and is less likely to be improperly placed. There have been 98 incidents of damage to the cannulas in 19,000 procedures using them (0.5%). 

The new da Vinci Xi system doesn’t use these cannulae; it uses longer redesigned ones.