Editor's Note University of California San Francisco (UCSF) became the first university to certify medical students as robotic surgery bedside assistants, giving future surgeons unprecedented hands-on training in a rapidly growing field, an August 25 UCSF news release reports. The program reportedly positions learners alongside attending surgeons, nurses, and scrub…

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Editor's Note Early findings indicate the da Vinci 5 (DV5) platform’s force feedback technology can reduce the amount of force surgeons apply to tissue, potentially minimizing trauma during colorectal surgery. According to a pilot study published in the American Journal of Surgery on July 10, the feature allows surgeons to…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Society of Robotic Surgery (SRS) have launched a joint initiative to expand equitable access to virtual care and telesurgery, according to a WHO departmental update published August 8. The partnership, formalized in July at the SRS Annual Meeting in Strasbourg, France,…

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Editor's Note Robotic-assisted surgery is proving to be a strong option for emergency colorectal procedures, offering lower complication rates, shorter hospital stays, and fewer conversions to open surgery than conventional approaches. According to a July 23 article from the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, this approach—long established in…

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Editor's Note Adapting general-purpose humanoid robots already trained on large-scale industrial tasks for use in surgery could provide a solution to burnout, understaffing and other problems. This is the primary takeaway of a July 9 article from UC San Diego detailing the work of robotics expert Michael Yip, who has…

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Editor's Note Mendaera has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its Focalist system, a compact robotic device that aims to improve precision in ultrasound-guided needle-based procedures. Fierce Biotech reported the news July 9. As detailed in the article, Focalist device is intended to assist with a range…

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Editor's Note Zimmer Biomet is taking a strategic step to dominate the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) market by partnering with Getinge to distribute surgical and infection control products, broadening its offering beyond implants and robotics, MedTech Dive July 14 reports. The partnership would provide ASCs with a single-source solution for…

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Editor's Note  A surgical robot independently performed a lengthy phase of gallbladder removal with expert-level precision, according to a July 9 announcement from Johns Hopkins university. "This advancement moves us from robots that can execute specific surgical tasks to robots that truly understand surgical procedures," said medical roboticist Axel Krieger,…

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Editor's Note A Florida-based surgeon successfully performed a prostate cancer surgery on a patient in Angola—7,000 miles away—marking a major milestone in transcontinental robotic telesurgery, according to a June 17 article from ABC News. The procedure, conducted by Dr. Vipul Patel of Advent Health’s Global Robotic Institute, is reportedly the…

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Editor's Note Surgeons are performing robotic shoulder replacements in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for the first time, signaling a significant shift in the trajectory of outpatient total joint arthroplasty. According to Outpatient Surgery Magazine May 7, the world’s first robotic total shoulder replacement outside of a hospital took place on…

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