REVO

Kang Hyon Song of the Korea Cancer Center Hospital to use Revo-i for all laparoscopic surgeries

More surgeries to be done using "Revo-i" as the center opens... Growth potential for robotics surgery is "unlimited"

"If the Korea Cancer Center Hospital does its role as a national institution to drive widespread use of advanced Korean medical equipment, domestic devices will much more likely to be used for good results. The made-in-Korea surgery robot "Revo-i" features performance that rivals existing products. In particular, it has a competitive edge in terms of price and service."

Professor Kang Hyon Song, the Director of the Robotic Surgery Center under the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences assesses "Revo-i," a product of Korean technology made by meerecompany.

The Korea Cancer Center Hospital has opened the Robotic Surgery Center to apply surgery robots in practice and has been promoting their use.

Director Song has been deeply engaged in robotics surgery because he has studied it overseas.

The hospital is known to have introduced "Revo-i" of meerecompany because Director Song campaigned the need for robotics surgery there.

Revo-i shall prove its safety and efficacy in various ways

Director Song stressed the importance of proving the safety and efficacy of "Revo-i" in diverse operation conditions.

"When we first used "Revo-i," there were limited cases of prostate cancer and colon cancer, but not other cancers. Due to the lack of reference, we weren't sure about its safety with other cancers," he said. "However, concrete evidence was collected through more cases with the robot helping to improve the perception of medical professionals, who've now turned to Revo-i for other operations as well."

In particular, he said, "After using "Revo-i" in operation, references with good prognosis and surgical results were accumulated, so my initial worries were gone." "The opening of the 'Robotic Surgery Center' will serve as an opportunity to further expand robotic surgery," he added.

Director Song said he found no difference between "Revo-i" with other products.

Although "Revo-i" is at the beginning stage, its performance rivals existing products. While laparotomy takes 4 to 5 hours non-stop, robotics surgery can be performed while sitting, and it allows surgeons to take a short break in the middle. This can greatly reduce physical strain on the surgeon, and the operating surgeon can be more comfortable," he said.

In addition, "Revo-i" uses two lenses which makes it better visibility compared with laparoscopic surgery which uses only one lens.

As Director Song stated, "We plan to use ‘Revo-i’ for all surgeries performed with the existing laparoscopic method." Surgery indications using Revo-i are expected to be expanded, and the number of robotic surgeries will increase rapidly.

Plans to replace all laparoscopic surgeries with "Revo-i" surgery

Director Song said, "When I first saw 'Revo-i,' I thought it can perform all surgeries like other robots, provided that the price issue is resolved." "In fact, compared to other surgical robots, its price is very competitive and I think the burden on the patients will be lessened,” he predicted.

Considering the latest trend of cases that used "Revo-i," Director Song thinks that it is by no means inferior to competitors’ products during their early stages.

Director Song stressed, "Competitors' products performed only 8 cases when they first arrived in Korea, but the current rate of case increase by 'Revo-i' is expected to exceed that of competing products."

Director Song said the reaction from the medical staff who experienced ‘Revo-i’ was 'good'.

Robotic surgery requires a relatively shorter learning curve compared to conventional laparoscopic surgery, but it still requires a certain amount of time. As there are more surgical cases, medical staff can become more familiar with the equipment. Therefore, clinicians should pass the threshold and overcome the learning curve to access robot surgery with more confidence and expand its use to other hospitals.

"When Revo-i was first introduced, there were not many references for cancers other than prostate cancer and colon cancer. However, the urology department started performing one robotic surgery after another, proving Revo-i's effectiveness. So, the Korea Cancer Center Hospital started using 'Revo-i' for new cancer types. The reason for this is because now there is concrete evidence that it works quite well."

Director Song anticipated that robotic surgery using "Revo-i" would be more widely used, thanks to the opening of the Robotic Surgery Center.

He predicted that necessary data has been accumulated, and in particular, the opening of the Robotic Surgery Center will serve as an opportunity to further promote the use of Revo-i.

Director Song is committing himself to further developing "Revo-i" by strengthening cooperation with meerecompany.

He said, "I noticed some things that I wish to improve when using instruments during surgery." "While conventional surgical robots take time to make improvements, meerecompany acts almost at the same time once problems are identified. They resolved five issues so far," he said.

This is very encouraging. We are not only helping the development of one surgical robot but also improving other medical devices using the technology applied in those surgical robots.

Director Song highlighted to further expand the use of "Revo-i" of meerecompany in clinical practice in the future, more efforts are needed to educate medical students, who are the future customers.

In particular, he is planning to make an education and research center for specialists preparing for robotic surgery and for research on improving surgical robots.

Plans for an educational research center for specialists preparing for robotic surgery

Director Song highly regards meerecompany's efforts to localize surgical robots and said that he is so comfortable using "Revo-i" after repeated use, and it almost feels like a friend to him.

Just as Director Song feels more comfortable with "Revo-i," the surgeries he performs with it are also much more comfortable for him and his patients.

At the same time, Director Song expected, "If the Korea Cancer Center Hospital leads the efforts to promote Korean medical equipment and devices, other homegrown devices including surgical robots will have greater influence in the market."

Meanwhile, he said that patient satisfaction is at the core of robotic surgery. He stressed that laparotomy usually has low satisfaction in terms of cosmetics because it leaves scars behind, but robot surgery can eliminate these problems and has the advantage of reducing pain.

He said that the "surgery trend is moving from laparotomy → laparoscopic surgery → robotic surgery" and predicted that "in the future, all laparoscopic surgeries of today will be replaced by robotic surgery."

In this regard, he repeatedly emphasized that robotic surgery has unlimited growth potential in the future.

Article : http://www.whosaeng.com/139842