Less Invasive

In this episode I talk with Christoff Heunis, the co-founder and CEO of Flux Robotics, a medtech startup that develops the Flux One robot for endovascular procedures. We talk about: - Chirstoff's background & experience in both research & industry - Conventional endovascular surgery and its challenge - The Flux One robot: what it is, how it works, early results - The company's stor...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that caught my attention with a focus today on orthopedics, endoscopy and laparoscopy. 1. THINK Surgical received FDA clearance for the TMINI Miniature Robotic System 2. Virtuoso Surgical unveiled its robotic system for endoscopy 3. Titan Medical signed licence agreements with Medtronic and Intuitive Subscribe to the Less Invasive podcast t...

Surgical Robotics Technology launched in May the first edition of the Surgical Robotics Industry Award in 4 categories: Industry Leadership, Innovative Start-Up, Outstanding Company, Ground-Breaking Technology. A great initiative to gather the community to celebrate outstanding contribution from individuals and companies in the industry! Anyone with an interest in surgical robotics can vote online...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Atul Gupta, interventional radiologist practicing in the Philadelphia area and Chief Medical Officer at Philips for their Image-Guided Therapy business. Dr. Gupta is responsible for the clinical strategy and vision for the interventional imaging systems, software, and endovascular devices. We talk about: - his background and journey into IR and into the industry - h...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Robert Masson, sports spine microneurosurgeon practicing minimally invasive spine surgery at The Masson Spine Institute in Orlando, FL and Park City, UT. Lifelong athlete in a relentless quest for performance, Dr. Masson is the founder and CEO of eXpanded eXistence, a mixed reality tech company building the Surgical Metaverse with a vision to improve the set up and...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Robert Masson, sports spine microneurosurgeon practicing minimally invasive surgery at The Masson Spine Institute in Orlando, FL and Park City, UT. Lifelong athlete in a relentless quest for performance, Dr. Masson is the founder and CEO of eXpanded eXistence, a mixed reality tech company building the Surgical Metaverse with a vision to improve the set up and workfl...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that caught my attention with a focus today on robotics and exoskeletons. 1. Ethicon announced the 1st kidney stones removal procedure with the MONARCH robot 2. Wandercraft obtained FDA clearance for its ATALANTE exoskeleton 3. Nanoflex Robotics raised $12 million to bring its robot to the market Subscribe to the Less Invasive podcast to ge...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Vanash Patel, colorectal surgeon practicing in London and Hertfordshire, UK, and user of the Versius robot from CMR Surgical.  We talk about: - the business case and what a surgical robot can bring to the hospital - the choice of a robot model when flexibility is a constraint - the use of telepresence for mentoring - Virtual Reality, App for surgical data &...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Vanash Patel, colorectal surgeon practicing in London and Hertfordshire, UK. We talk about robotic surgery with the Versius robot from CMR Surgical: - the open console: ergonomics, 3D glasses, joysticks, etc. - the setup and port placement with the robot - the training process, learning curve and early results with robotics RESOURCES Dr. Patel on LinkedIn:   ht...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that caught my attention with a focus today on soft tissue robotics, endoscopy and artificial intelligence. 1- Ronovo Surgical emerges from stealth mode with the Carina robot for laparoscopic surgery 2- Olympus to acquire pioneering cloud-AI endoscopy startup Odin Vision 3- Theraclion announces results of first US trial for varicose vein tr...

In this episode I talk with Anne Osdoit, the energetic & optimistic CEO of Moon Surgical, a medtech startup that develops the Maestro robot for laparoscopic surgery. Anne is also VC partner at Sofinnova. We talk about: What data streams Maestro has been recording during surgery How Moon Surgical will leverage data & AI for actionable features How the Moon Surgical story started in a lab Ch...

In this episode I talk with Anne Osdoit, the energetic & optimistic CEO of Moon Surgical, a medtech startup that develops the Maestro robot for laparoscopic surgery. Anne is also VC partner at Sofinnova. We talk about: - Anne’s background & experience in the medtech space - Conventional laparoscopic surgery and its challenges - The Maestro robot: what it is, how it works, and its indicatio...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Alok Sharan, orthopedic spine surgeon practicing in New Jersey. Dr. Alok Sharan is a pioneer of the awake spinal fusion technique, president of the Spine and Performance Institute and co-founder of DocSocial, a social media for healthcare professionals. We talk about: back pain and minimally invasive spine surgery the impact of general anesthesia awake surgery: whic...

In this episode I talk with Prof. Yann Nguyen, ENT surgeon and co-director of a research team at the Hearing Institute in Paris, France. We talk about: the ear anatomy and physiology the challenges of middle ear surgery and cochlear implantation how the RobOtol system works what's the future of robotics in ear surgery RESOURCES Prof. Nguyen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yannnguyen/ Coll...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that caught my attention with a focus today on soft tissue robotics and interventional oncology. 1- Moon Surgical received FDA Clearance and completed its first-in-human clinical study 2- CMR Surgical partners with J&J Ethicon to sell the Versius robot in select markets 3- HistoSonics raised $100m in a new financing led by J&J Innov...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Jawad Ali, board-certified general surgeon practicing in Austin, TX and founder of Vality Partners and Austin Medtech Connect. We talk about: Vality Partners, a group of consulting surgeons for early-stage medtech startups Austin Medtech Connect, a non-profit breaking silos for the local medtech community in Central Texas Dr. Jawad Ali on LinkedIn: https://www.linke...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Jawad Ali, board-certified general surgeon practicing in Austin, TX and founder of Vality Partners and Austin Medtech Connect. We talk about: His practice in minimally-invasive surgery, acute care & trauma, endoscopy Surgical robotics and perspectives from leveraging pre-, intra- and postoperative data Digital surgery technologies, including telesurgery, telepre...

In this episode, I speak with Todd Usen, a seasoned medtech executive and CEO of a medtech startup called Activ Surgical that completed the world’s first autonomous robotic surgery of soft tissue in 2018 and commericalizes a digital platform that brings intelligent information to imaging systems during minimally invasive surgery. We talk about: Todd's story into medtech The mission & vision of...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that recently caught my attention in the biotech AI and robotics space. Biotech & Medical AI startup company Surge raised a $2.6m round Medicaroid obtained new clearances for its hinotori robot Accelus extends the usage of its REMI spine robot to all major 3D imaging systems Subscribe to the Less Invasive podcast to get future episodes...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Paula Doyle, board-certified surgeon in obstetrics and gynecology specialized in reconstructive pelvic surgery at the University of Rochester. Dr Doyle is the founder and CEO of a medtech startup called EndoGlow that manufactures a fluorescent medical device intended for minimally invasive surgery. We talk about: How the EndoGlow story started and why she decided...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Paula Doyle, board-certified surgeon in obstetrics and gynecology specialized in reconstructive pelvic surgery at the University of Rochester. Dr Doyle is the founder and CEO of a medtech startup called EndoGlow that manufactures a fluorescent medical device intended for minimally invasive surgery. We talk about: The challenges of reconstructive pelvic surgery (e....

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that recently caught my attention in dental surgery, Mixed Reality and surgical robotics. Cyberdontics is targeting dental implant surgery with robotics, AI and a novel imaging technology Level Ex showcased their Spine XR application at NASS THINK Surgical raised $100m to accelerate the commercial launch of new products Subscribe to the Les...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that recently caught my attention in the implants, AI and robotics space. CARMAT got the green light to resume their artificial heart in Europe Theator closed a $39.5m fundraising for its AI platform for surgical video management ForSight Robotics closed a $55m fundraising to develop fully robotic cataract surgery Subscribe to the Less Inva...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that recently caught my attention in the augmented reality and AI space. eXpanded eXistence announced the first spine surgeries with their AR system  Arterys got acquired by Tempus Google Cloud introduced a digital suite for Medical Imaging Subscribe to the Less Invasive podcast to get future episodes on minimally-invasive surgery, rob...

In this audio capsule, I briefly outline 3 pieces of news that recently caught my attention in the soft-tissue surgical robotics space. Virtuoso Surgical's $20m public offering for an endoscopic surgical robot Medtronic's new market clearances for the Hugo robot Intuitive Surgical's Q3'2022 results on da Vinci, SP and Ion robots Subscribe to the Less Invasive podcast to get future episodes on mini...