Medrobotics Corp, a surgical products company with core competencies in medical robotics, presented multicenter clinical data on its Flex Robotic System this past Sunday afternoon at the American Head & Neck Society International Conference in Seattle. The presenter was Stephan Lang, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University Hospital Essen, Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in Essen, Germany.

The prospective, single-arm, open-label, post-market, clinical follow-up study enrolled 80 patients between July 2014 and October 2015 at three hospitals in Germany and one in Belgium. The goal was to assess the safety and effectiveness of the Flex Robotic System when guided by surgeons to treat benign and malignant lesions in the throat. The study concluded “…it is a safe and effective tool in transoral robotic surgery.”

Of the 79 patients on whom Flex was used, doctors were able to expose, visualize and access the target area in 75 (94 percent) of the cases. Among patients who were treated or biopsied, 72 of 79 (91 percent) enjoyed successful completions. Fifty-eight percent of the successful procedures (42 of 72) were performed in areas the surgeons considered difficult to reach, such as the tongue base and vocal chords. There were no device-related adverse events reported.

“My colleagues and I performed the world’s first robotic-assisted cancer procedures with the Medrobotics Flex® Robotic System two years ago,” Dr. Lang said. “The technology has continually improved since then, allowing us better access to challenging surgical sites.”

Medrobotics’ Flex Robotic System was designed to provide an affordable, easy-to-use robot-assisted surgical platform for hospitals and surgeons seeking to provide minimally-invasive treatment options to the broadest number of patients. Minimally invasive surgery has demonstrated advantages for patients and providers, such as shorter hospital stays and faster recovery times.