The Versius Surgical System is a soft-tissue remote robotic surgical system based on a master-slave configuration. Cambridge Medical Robotics (CMR) was founded in January 2014 and entered into the fast developing field of robotic surgery, where different companies are competing with new devices. The first series of cadaveric trials with the new system were completed in June 2016 and it was officially introduced in September 2018. The first commercial introduction was at Galaxy Care Hospital in Pune, India, in October 2019, and in Europe, at Lothian and Milton Keynes University Hospital (HNS Foundation Trust), in the UK, in February 2020. In June 2022 there were over 5,000 clinical cases completed.
Although the basic concept is the same and there are very similar items (like the instruments), there are also some remarkable differences with the da Vinci Robotic Surgery System. There is no Vision Cart. Just the console and the effector modules. The console has and open design: the system works with a 3D image, but it is displayed in a monitor. Therefore the surgeon (or anyone around) needs to use polarized glasses. Additional 2D monitors might be connected to the system. There are no pedals in the surgeon´s console, so everything is controlled through the hand manipulators (we will discuss them in another chapter).
Endoscope and instrument arms are split into individual modules. There is an endoscope module and up to three instrument modules (also to be discussed later). The weight of the console is 180kg; each module 100kg. They do not use any motorized assistance to be transported. The system configuration is flexible, so it is possible to use just the endoscope (in the same way that other robotic endoscope holders), or one, two or three additional instrument arms. The company argues that this concept and design eases the coexistence with and a smooth transition from conventional endoscopic surgery to robotic remote surgery.
But let´s see the Versius Surgical System in detail. Next.
J Granell. May 25, 2023
Notice. The Versius Surgical System has not the CE mark for Head and Neck Surgery
Head and Neck Robotic Surgery 