World's First Fully Endoscopic Heart Bypass Surgery Performed With the ZEUS Robotic Surgical System

Computer Motion Inc. (Santa Barbara, CA) announced that the first completely endoscopic coronary artery bypass graft (E-CABG) procedure using the company's ZEUS Robotic Surgical System was performed at the Bakoulev Scientific Center (Moscow, Russia) on a 36-year-old male patient. The ZEUS system enabled the endoscopic procedure to be performed through incisions each smaller than the diameter of a pencil as an alternative to conventional open-heart surgery, which requires a 12-15 in. incision and cracks the chest to gain access to the patient's heart.

Leo Bockeria, MD, chairman of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Bakoulev Scientific Center, Oleg Svanidze, MD, Computer Motion's director of Cardiac Surgery, Harold Tabaie, DO, Ph.D., of Sarasota Memorial Hospital (Sarasota, FL) and Thomas Vassiliades, MD, chief of the Pensacola Heart Institute (Pensacola, FL) collaborated to perform this historic procedure.

Computer Motion's ZEUS Robotic Surgical System consists of three interactive robotic arms placed at a standard operating table, a computer controller, and an ergonomically enhanced surgeon console. One robotic arm is used to provide voice-controlled visualization to the surgeon, while the other two robotic arms manipulate surgical instruments under the surgeon's direct control. At the console, the surgeon controls the instrument handles and views the operative site in either 3-D or 2-D, depending on their preference. With a computer interface, the robotic instruments replicate the surgeon's actions at the operative site in real time. The movements of the instrument handles are scaled and tremor is filtered for heightened surgeon dexterity and precision, such that the surgeon is able to perform fully endoscopic, minimally invasive microsurgery.

The ZEUS System is currently under an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study and is CE Marked for commercial sale in the European Community.