Medical Microinstruments (MMI), a company based outside of Pisa, Italy, won the European CE Mark of approval for its Symani robotic surgical system. The product provides 7-20X scaling of hand movements, automatically removing tremors to allow for safe microsurgical and supermicrosurgical procedures. It is hoped that this impressive new device can help to improve how free-flap reconstructions, replantations, peripheral nerve repairs and lymphatic surgery are performed. Surgeons operate on the Symani via its console that includes a built-in chair, manipulators, and a series of foot switches. The system relies on the company’s NanoWrist robotic microinstruments, which MMI claims to be the “world’s smallest wristed surgical instruments”. These allow movements beyond what the hand can do naturally, improving the range of motion, as well as the dexterity, of surgeons’ natural abilities. The manipulators are controlled in basically the same way as manual instruments, featuring seven degrees of freedom, which are immediately intuitive to trained surgeons. Depending on the procedure, the entire console can be placed near the patient or the surgeon who can rely on a heads-up 3D visualization system to see the anatomy being worked on. Four surgeries were already completed in Florence using the Symani, including three complex limb reconstructions and a reconstruction of a pharynx following cancer. Source
