Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) got a little love from Wall Street today after announcing positive findings from an analysis comparing da Vinci robot-assisted surgery (VATS) to open surgery and video-assisted thoracic surgery in treatment patients with lung cancer.
The analysis, which included data on more than 33,000 patients treated in 8 U.S. states, found that da Vinci procedures far out-performed those done via open surgery, resulting in lower rates of death, shorter hospital stays and a lower overall complication rate, the company said.
Procedures performed with the da Vinci system also produced results "similar to or better than" VATS, according to an Intuitive Surgical statement. ISRG shares jumped 2.3% today, trading at $380.61 as of about 1:55 p.m. That’s still a far cry from the $506.50 opening price at the start of 2013.
The analysis included results from more than 20,000 open surgery patients, nearly 12,500 VATS patients and only 430 robot-assisted surgery patients. All patients were undergoing removal of a lobe of the lung, called lobectomy, or removal of a section of a lobe, called segmentectomy, to remove lung tissue diseased as a result of non-small cell lung cancer.
Compared with open surgery, da Vinci procedures reduced death rates (0.2% compared with 2%), shortened hospital stays (5.9 days compared with 8.2 days) and lowered complication rates (43.8% compared with 54.1%), according to the study, which was published in the The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Da Vinci also outperformed VATS, but none of the findings were statistically significant, the researchers said.
Intuitive Surgical’s minimally invasive surgical system has long bested open surgery for a variety of indications, including prostate cancer and hysterectomy, but the advantages over other minimally invasive techniques is a source of some debate. Some studies have criticized da Vinci procedures as a costlier type of minimally invasive surgery that confers little benefits over laparoscopic procedures. A study published earlier this year found that robotic surgery complications may be under-reported and therefore less safe than they appear, a conclusion Intuitive called "misleading." Studies published last year raised similar concerns regarding robotic surgery prostatectomies and robotic surgeries to treat endometrial cancer.
Intuitive Surgical has claimed in the past that open surgery is the more appropriate yardstick for the da Vinci system.
"When evaluating minimally invasive surgery techniques, particularly robotic-assisted surgery, which is now the standard of care in the United States for prostatectomies, it is important to use the surgery it is replacing as a comparator," according to chief medical advisor Dr. Myriam Curet. "The introduction of laparoscopic urologic surgery and subsequent development of robotic techniques have dramatically increased the use of minimally invasive radical prostate surgery. This examination of the most robust, independent surgical database clearly demonstrates that a minimally invasive radical prostatectomy can be safely performed with low complication rates, particularly when compared to alternative procedures."
