A Da Vinci robot, on the left, working in sync with the Levita system on the right. | Source: Levita Magnetics
Surgical robotic procedures are becoming increasingly more commonplace every day. In 2022 alone, surgeons around the world performed 1.8 million robot-assisted procedures, according to the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Last month, Levita Magnetics Inc. announced what it said was a new breakthrough in the field: For the first time, surgeons completed a procedure using two robots in tandem.
The procedure, a prostate-removal surgery, used Levita’s MARS platform to maneuver internal organs using its proprietary magnetic positioning system. Dr. Jeffrey Cadeddu at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center combined the MARS (magnetic-assisted robotic surgery) system with Intuitive Surgical‘s Da Vinci SP (single-port) robot.
Dr. Alberto Rodriguez-Navarro, the CEO and president of Levita Magnetics, said the idea for the procedure came from Cadeddu. It was an exciting moment for Rodriguez-Navarro, who founded Levita after stopping his clinical practice. He recalled that he hoped to create tools that would empower surgeons to improve patient outcomes.
So, seeing surgeons take this system and innovate new ways to perform procedures felt a little unreal, he said.
“That’s the beauty of working with world-renowned surgeons. They have ideas,” Rodriguez-Navarro told The Robot Report. “You provide the tools, and they found a way of incorporating different technologies.”
Silicon Valley-based Levita Magnetics secured FDA 510(k) clearance for its updated MARS system in 2023. The company‘s system includes two surgeon-controlled robotic arms. One arm holds and operates the magnetic controller, while the other holds and controls an endoscope with a camera for visualization inside the patient.
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Inside the landmark procedure
“We were the first in the world to develop the magnetic concept; that’s our strength,” asserted Rodriguez-Navarro. “But, of course, we’re open to collaboration, and that’s what we’re demonstrating here. At the end, our goal has to be how we improve outcomes for the patient.”
During the prostate removal procedure, the surgical team used Levita’s MARS platform to retract tissue within the patient precisely. This increases visualization, allowing the team to preserve nerves involved in sexual function and urinary continence.
The neurovascular bundles responsible for erectile function and urinary continence are located adjacent to the prostate gland. Historically, surgeons have struggled to avoid these bundles during prostate removal.
“Our goal is to improve visualization,” Rodriguez-Navarro said. “If you see better, you can do a better procedure, because you do better dissections.”
The Da Vinci SP provided the single-port capabilities required for this complex urological surgery. The Intuitive Surgical robot makes an incision so that surgeons can get inside the patient and perform a procedure. The MARS system allows the surgeons greater access and visualization once they’re inside the body, removing the limits that come with single-port surgery.
“We provide our capability of generating movements that you are not able to do with conventional instruments or conventional robotics, because we generate movement through the abdominal wall,” noted Rodriguez-Navarro. “So what that means is the movements that you can generate are not constrained by your entry point.”
Surgeons leverage Levita’s technology
Typically, the MARS system is used for common procedures that are performed every day in high numbers, such as gallbladder, bariatric, and colorectal procedures. With this dual-robot procedure, Levita said it has demonstrated that MARS can be a tool for more complex procedures and improve outcomes for patients.
“Magnetics enables you, as a surgeon, to provide a procedure with fewer incisions, because you generate movement using magnets through the abdominal wall, so you don’t have to make so many holes in the patients,” Rodriguez-Navarro said.
In addition to its less-invasive technique, the MARS system is also less expensive for hospitals, he added.
“Our robot dimension is much leaner, it doesn’t use a huge console,” said Rodriguez-Navarro. “We focus on how we can do the procedure better, and that aspect for us is reducing the number of incisions.”
With a much leaner robot, the surgical system is more accessible on a global scale, he said.
Levita Magnetics makes plans, considers collaborations
Rodriguez-Navarro said Levita is “absolutely” interested in more dual-robot surgeries.
“It’s very rewarding, knowing that you’re providing a better surgery for a patient, that a patient will have a better outcome with this, and they will go home earlier with less incision,” he said.
Levita Magnetics is also developing artificial intelligence that could aid in future procedures.
“We have a very strong pipeline of AI that we are actually developing,” said Rodriguez-Navarro. “I’m totally convinced surgery will be an autonomous procedure. In the future, step by step, you will start automating steps of the procedure.”
Generally, Levita’s goals are to reach more patients, create better outcomes, and perform surgeries faster in the next year.
“Robotics are very cool, but we don’t have to develop robots just because it’s cool. It really has to bring value to the patient and to the healthcare system,” Rodriguez-Navarro said.
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