REVO

<Picture> Professor Hyoung-Il Kim, Gastrointestinal Surgery, Dept. of Surgery,Yonsei UniversityCollege of Medicine

meerecompany (CEO Joon Koo Kim) announced that the first gastrointestinal surgery using Revo-i at Severance Hospital has successfully been completed.

On the 13th, Professor Hyoung-Il Kim of Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery at Severance Hospital, successfully completed a robotic subtotal gastrectomy using Revo-i. It was the first robotic surgery performed using Revo-i in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery at Severance Hospital. The subtotal gastrectomy was performed in a patient diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer, and the patient discharged in only 4 days after the surgery.

Subtotal gastrectomy is typically recommended in cases of stomach cancer where the cancer is in the lower or middle part of the stomach. It is a high-difficulty surgery requiring a high level of techniques as it involves dissecting lymph nodes around the stomach that are related to metastasis while leaving a part of the upper stomach, and then anastomosing the lower cross section of it to the duodenum or to the jejunum that is just next to the duodenum[i]. In this regard, robotic surgery is beneficial in that it allows zooming in on the surgery site in a 3D image and enables detailed dissection of lymph nodes with its surgical instruments, including the multi-joint wrist. With development of robotic surgery devices as well as techniques, robotic gastrectomy is increasing.

Professor Kim, who led this surgery, is one of the surgeons who are most active in performing robotic gastric cancer surgery in the country. In 2021, he drew attention with his study result featured in Annals of Surgical Oncology, a journal by the U.S. Society of Surgical Oncology, describing that robotic surgery results in a higher disease-free survival rate compared to open surgery and laparoscopic surgery in high-difficulty gastric cancer surgery[ii].

“Robotic surgery is widely used for gastric cancer surgery these days as it allows fast recovery and I'm very glad to get the opportunity to provide good treatment for patients with a domestic surgical robot,” said Professor Kim.

“Adoption of Revo-i is continuously being expanded, mainly to various cancer surgeries and high-difficulty surgeries based on its constant performance improvement. We will keep committing ourselves to the development of robotic surgery and ultimately the enhancement of patient health in the country under cooperation with Severance Hospital,” said Ho Kun Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Surgical Robot Division of meerecompany.

Revo-i is a surgical robot that was first domestically developed and successfully commercialized by meerecompany. It supports high-resolution 3D stereoscopic images, a wide field of view, and detailed movements with multi-joint instruments, so the surgeon can operate very comfortably. Resection is minimized, leading to patients' faster return to their normal daily lives, which in turn leads to its use in multiple areas, including OBGYN, surgery, urology, and ENT.

[i] National Cancer Information Center. (2023 December 21) gastric cancer. https://www.cancer.go.kr/lay1/program/S1T211C213/cancer/view.do?cancer_seq=4661&menu_seq=4677

[ii] Seohee Choi, Jeong Ho Song, Sejin Lee, Minah Cho, Yoo Min Kim, Woo Jin Hyung, & Hyoung-Il Kim. (2021). Surgical Merits of Open, Laparoscopic, and Robotic Gastrectomy Techniques with D2 Lymphadenectomy in Obese Patients with Gastric Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol, 28(12):7051-7060. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-09952-6

Korean article : http://www.bosa.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=2217248