The FDA issued a Class II recall of 30 of Intuitive Surgical‘s (NSDQ:ISRG) flagship da Vinci surgical robot, saying the devices may not have been properly tested.
Class II recalls denote "a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote," according to the federal watchdog agency.
The FDA said factory testing on 4 components of the da Vinci device – the da Vinci dual camera controller, da Vinci instrument control box, da Vinci Si surgeon side cart and da Vinci Si vision system cart – "may not be in compliance with UL Standards as 1 of the testing devices was found to be working incorrectly," according to notices posted on the agency’s website.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Intuitive sent an "urgent device correction" notice to all affected customers June 27, according to the FDA.
"The letter identified the product, the problem, and the action to be taken by the customer. Customers were instructed to ensure that all affected personnel were fully informed of the notification and that the notification should be forwarded to other managers within their facility. Customers were also instructed to complete and return the attached Acknowledgment Form to acknowledge receipt of the notification," according to the agency.
"We discovered that 1 piece of testing equipment wasn’t recording results properly," Angela Wonson, an Intuitive spokeswoman, told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement, adding that "all systems have passed" field testing and that no complaints were received.
