Cambridge Consultants Blog
What’s next for Minimally Invasive Surgery?
By Patrick Pordage - Last updated: Tuesday, June 8, 2010In 1991 the first successful laparoscopic radical prostatectomy had taken place – a minimally invasive procedure used in the treatment for prostate cancer. To remove the prostate a number of ‘key hole’ incisions are made, rather than using the traditional open surgery procedure. Despite the obvious benefits to the patient, (not least in terms of reduced blood loss, less post operative pain, and shorter stays in hospital), the initial procedure was largely disapproved of by the medical community and the surgeons threatened with being banned from medical practice. Just ten years later and 98% of all prostatectomies in the US were performed laparoscopically. Wind the clock for just another decade and today 9 out of 10 of these procedures are carried out robotically, using a system called da Vinci (10 min video, including ‘non-gory’ demo).
da Vinci: ©2010 Intuitive Surgical, Inc
If so much can change in twenty years, where will this $15 billion market be in another decade from now?
To help answer this question we assembled some of the leading players in the field of Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) and ran a two day workshop examining the key issues. Here are some of the key findings:
- The next decade will see the integration of technologies and services that transcend the operating room. New diagnostic instruments already in product development will afford the opportunity for earlier intervention
- Advances in biologics, stem cell research, and regenerative medicine will require novel systems for delivery into the body, with tissue engineering and gene therapy introducing an entirely new facet to surgical practice. The next few years offer significant opportunity for synergy and partnerships between such industries
- Convergence of surgery with pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic technologies will, ultimately, create better clinical outcomes with lower risk
- The growing voice of the ‘informed patient’ is driving the popularity of preventative operations away from traditional curative ones. MIS is seen as a route to offering lower cost and lower risk procedures.
- Innovative development in the field of MIS is being stifled in the critical US market by the current reimbursement coding system.
The workshop was attended by delegates from some of the world’ leading edge companies in the area of MIS, including Intuitive Surgical, Covidien, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Medtronic and GE Healthcare to name but a few. If you’d like to read the full report, you can get a copy by completing this registration form. The report is available free of charge.
For a more in-depth review of the workshop and it’s findings, MassDevice.com just covered the story. The article is here.
