Basic robotic surgery aims to preserve erections – how it works

Goodbye, Flop Wind!

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the US, other than skin cancer. About 13% of American men will get it — and the treatment often comes with the risk of erectile dysfunction.

Relief is coming—The world’s first dual-robotic surgery to remove a prostate gland was performed last month in Texas. This basic approach aims to preserve the nerve that controls erectile function.

“We have a magnetic technology that enables better tissue retraction and better visualization,” Dr. Alberto Rodriguez-Navarro, founder and CEO of Elevated Magnetics, told The Post.

“In the case of the prostate, this can result in the surgeon seeing the nerve bundles better,” Rodriguez-Navarro continued. “Nerves are very important because they deal with incontinence, like urinary incontinence, and also sexual function, so preserving those nerves is critical.”

Target’s Jeffrey Cadeddu used the Da Vinci single-port robotic system and the Mars platform lifted together for the first time to remove a 67-year-old man’s prostate With stage 2 prostate cancer at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

The dual method reduces the number of incisions, leading to less pain, fewer complications, faster healing and less scarring.

“Technologies that are made by different companies are usually not made to work together … but we can work together, that’s what was interesting about this,” said Cadeddu, a urologist, professor and board member. Levita’s Medical Advisor.

In a robotic prostatectomy, a urologist makes five or Six small incisions in the lower stomach area to insert miniature surgical tools and a camera to access and remove the prostate gland.

The da Vinci Single Port, launched in the US in 2018 by Surgical Intuitive, requires only a small incision because the camera and three instruments are grouped in one shaft.

The single-arm design—which Cadeddu likes in an octopus—allows you a greater range of motion and minimizes collisions between instruments.

The da Vinci provides deep and narrow access to tissue, while the Mars system uses magnetic forces for precise tissue retraction and manipulation of internal organs.

An external magnet on the patient’s skin controls a magnetic fat inside the body.

“Actual prostatectomy is done by [da Vinci] Robot, but the manipulation of adjacent tissues is done by the Mars magnetic robot, “explained Cadeddu. “Marrying the two in one operation – two robots, one that controls the fat, one that controls the scissors and dissection by the surgeon – this is Novely. “

Mars, launched in 2023, has been independently used for weight loss surgery, gallbladder removal and colorectal procedures.

The plan is to use the dual technology in surgeries beyond prostate removal and expand to other locations. Rodriguez-Navarro hopes to implement the technique in New York hospitals this year.

“We’re getting started,” he said. “The idea is that we put this in the hands of all surgeons in the US and also on a global scale.”