"Small incision, refinement" is the intuitive change brought by surgical robots to the surgical plan.
From May 14th to 17th, the 87th China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) was held in Shanghai. At this year's conference, companies such as minimally invasive medical, Shurui Robot, Jingfeng Medical, and Yida Health unveiled their latest products, demonstrating laparoscopic surgical robots that comprehensively cover important and complex surgical procedures in the fields of chest, abdominal cavity and pelvis.
At the Shurui Robot booth, the Shurui single-hole surgical robot is undergoing a quail egg shelling "operation". As the minimally invasive medical with the most extensive product pipeline segmentation in China, its booth is divided into independent departments such as surgery and orthopedics, and its full line of products is displayed tilely, while the Yida Health booth focuses on IQQA-Guide intelligent surgical navigation robot. In addition, Jingfeng Medical has brought 5 cutting-edge technology products.
Looking at all kinds of innovative achievements, precision, digitalization and personalization are the clinical advantages of these medical devices, and surgical robots are representative products of this medical innovation trend. In this regard, the person in charge of the site of the surgical robot told the "China Times" reporter, "Robot-assisted surgery can relieve the fatigue of doctors during surgery. The single-hole surgical robot represents the future development direction of minimally invasive surgery and truly benefits doctors and patients. The person in charge of Jingfeng Medical told this reporter, "Surgical robots have brought innovation power to the industry." In the future, precision, digitalization and intelligent means will become a new profit growth point for surgical robots. In terms of technology, whether the clinical effect of the product can solve the pain points of traditional surgery and achieve the stability, accuracy and convenience of the operation is the key. ”
Surgical robots launch delicate challenges
Surgical robots are known as the crown jewel of the robot industry, and the "da Vinci surgical robot" of the United States is in the leading position of the world's surgical robot industry. In China, with the national level of robots and intelligent manufacturing into the priority areas of national scientific and technological innovation, a number of outstanding enterprises have emerged in the Chinese surgical robot market.
On the morning of May 14, the reporter first came to the minimally invasive medical booth, and the blue and white design in the exhibition area highlighted the sense of technology. With the introduction of the docent, the reporter learned that the company currently has three commercial products, namely the three-dimensional electronic laparoscopic dragonfly eye, the four-arm laparoscopic surgical robot Toumai, and the orthopedic surgical robot Honghu, which obtained the marketing registration certificate issued by the State Food and Drug Administration (NMPA) in June 2021, January 2022 and April 2022 respectively. Among them, Toumai is the first domestic four-arm laparoscopic surgical robot, which has been approved for use in urological surgery. Bird is approved for total knee replacement.
The on-site docent told reporters, "The Toumai ® laparoscopic robot built by Minimally Invasive Robot Group for eight years is the first four-arm laparoscopic surgical robot developed by ® a Chinese enterprise and approved for marketing. Up to now, Toumai ® has ® continuously challenged difficult surgeries in urology, thoracic surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, gynecology, gastrointestinal surgery and other departments, and assisted clinical experts to achieve breakthroughs in many domestic surgical robots. ”
In the Shurui Robot exhibition area, the Shurui single-hole surgical robot is performing the "operation" of shelling quail eggs. Engineers operate the surgical instruments on the main console, and the four surgical instruments enter the simulated abdominal cavity through a small incision of only 2.5 centimeters, unfold and peel off the thin quail eggshell piece by piece. With the cooperation of several surgical instruments, the quail egg membrane has not been broken at all, which fully reflects the fine, safe and controllable operation performance of the surgical robot.
Photo by Guo Yilin
The on-site staff told reporters, "This demonstration has high requirements for the precision, safety and controllability of product operation, which is exactly what surgeons need when carrying out surgery." It is reported that the surgical sharp robot can be applied to urology, gynecology, pediatrics, general surgery, thoracic surgery and other departments.
In addition, in the Jingfeng medical exhibition area, the reporter saw the "robot dancer on the egg membrane" again. What is different from the previous is that Jingfeng Medical chose to use videos to show robots peeling quail eggs, suturing raw egg film, folding pockets and thousands of paper cranes. In the operation of peeling quail eggs, the thickness of the egg film is only 60 microns, professionals control the Jingfeng surgical robot to extend 4 dexterous robotic arms, by watching the 3D image of the surgical area to clamp, peel and other ultra-fine, difficult actions, the robotic arm simulates the human arm, restores the surgeon's hand movements, filters the tremor of the human hand itself, and completes the shelling operation without damage.
Photo by Guo Yilin
The on-site interpreter told reporters, "The replacement of traditional manual surgery by surgical robots is an inevitable trend in the development of surgery in the future." On the one hand, the robotic surgical system has highly accurate surgical operation capabilities, which can reduce errors in surgery and improve the success rate of surgery. On the other hand, the robotic surgical system can perform surgical operations stably, eliminate the shaking of the doctor's hand, and improve the safety of surgery. In addition, the robotic surgical system provides a high-definition three-dimensional field of view, which facilitates precise cutting and suturing, and reduces fatigue during surgery. ”
Then the reporter went all the way to the Yida Health Exhibition Area. At the scene, the reporter saw that the docent was introducing the IQQA-Guide intelligent surgical navigation robot. It is reported that IQQA-Guide takes personalized 3D fully quantitative organ electronic map as the core, and real-time positioning, tracking, guidance and monitoring of the whole three-dimensional quantitative image, which can assist doctors to improve the prognosis of surgery, thereby reducing surgical risks. At the same time, this system can also be linked with the intelligent cloud service platform to support doctors to perform various minimally invasive interventional surgeries for thoracic and abdominal tumors.
"Before surgery, the surgeon used IQQA intelligent 3D full quantitative reconstruction technology to evaluate and analyze the patient's condition, accurately locate the lesion and its spatial relationship with the peripheral blood vessels and bronchial segments, and formulate a precise surgical plan. During the operation, the IQQA-Guide intelligent surgical navigation robot dynamically tracks the path, distance, angle, etc. from the tip of the puncture needle to the lesion in real time, and monitors and positions the whole process to assist doctors to effectively avoid important blood vessels and avoid risks such as postoperative infection and bleeding. At present, this intelligent surgical navigation robot has passed the national medical device innovation 'green channel' qualification and the NMPA certification of the State Food and Drug Administration, and is widely used in clinical practice. ”
Policies promote the development of surgical robots
Behind the rapid development of the surgical robot industry, it is inseparable from the promotion of policy level. In recent years, the state has promulgated a series of regulations and policies to encourage the innovation of high-end medical imaging equipment and accelerate the review and approval of medical devices, thereby accelerating the mainland's high-end medical equipment into a new stage of domestic substitution.
On January 19, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 17 departments jointly issued the "Notice on the Implementation Plan of "Robot +" Application Action", which proposed to develop medical robot products such as consulting services, surgery, auxiliary examination, auxiliary patrol, intensive care and first aid, life support, rehabilitation, inspection and sampling, disinfection and cleaning.
In addition, for the import of surgical robots, the "MFN Tax Rate Table for Some Information Technology Products" shows that from January 2023, it will be implemented in accordance with the zero-duty rate of MFN imports, and foreign surgical robot products and technologies will be encouraged to enter the Chinese market. This means that surgical robots including Leonardo da Vinci will have zero tariffs, it is reported that in the past, these companies are vigorously promoting the localization of surgical robots, this time to reduce tariffs, they are likely to reduce the price of imported surgical robots, conducive to promoting the application of surgical robots.
A surgical robot exhibitor told the "China Times" reporter, "With the intensification of the aging of the population, the incidence of a variety of serious diseases has increased, and higher requirements have been put forward for surgical technology, and the characteristics of surgical robots are well met by the current demand of the Chinese market, which helps alleviate and even solve the imbalance between supply and demand of medical services and comprehensively improve the efficiency of medical supply." ”
The reporter learned at the exhibition site that many exhibitors had similar views. They believe that "domestic surgical robots stand on the shoulders of 'giants', and several companies in the head have basically completed fast-follow catch-up." Everyone patted their chests and said that they had completed China's import substitution. ”
The reporter learned that from 2021, the speed of approval of domestic surgical robots has accelerated significantly. In August this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology disclosed that since 2021, more than 20 domestic medical robots have been registered for certification, covering multiple subdivisions such as abdominal cavity, orthopedics, neurosurgery, vascular intervention, and oral implantation.
From the current market point of view, although domestic surgical robot companies are in the process of rapid incubation and growth, the industry is still in the early stage of development, technology, research and development and time costs are urgent problems to solve, but fortunately, the domestic surgical robot industry investment and financing has accelerated significantly. According to statistics, the number of investment and financing has increased significantly, and the total financing amount of the entire track has exceeded 3 billion yuan. According to the forecast of Frost & Sullivan, a global enterprise growth consulting firm, the mainland surgical robot market will reach 3.8 billion US dollars (about 26.5 billion yuan) by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 44.3%.
Editor: Yan Yuan Editor-in-chief: Chen Yanpeng