Pisa, Italy-based Medical Microinstruments designed the Nanowrist instruments to address the challenges of microsurgery. Surgeons in Europe recently used the new supermicro needle holder and dilator in clinical procedures with successful outcomes.
According to a news release, surgeons have used the instruments in Zürich (Switzerland), Florence (Italy), and Salzburg (Austria).
In Austria, Dr. Simon Enzinger of the University Hospital Salzburg used them in a partial glossectomy. In the procedure, he raised a lateral arm free flap to replace a large section of a patient’s tongue that required removal due to cancer.
To return blood flow to the transferred tissue, Enzinger used the supermicro NanoWrist instruments to connect the branch of the radial collateral artery to a side brand of the superior thyroid artery. It was only 0.8mm in diameter and in a difficult location to access.
“We’ve already seen the benefits of Symani and the NanoWrist instruments in improving dexterity and control,” Enzinger said in a news release. “The new supermicro instrument tips are even smaller and more refined, making it significantly easier to precisely connect vessels under one millimeter in diameter. I believe this will expand the ability to use perforator-to-perforator flaps, which makes free-flap surgeries shorter and less invasive.”
Medical Microinstruments’ offering now available in the EU
Medical Microinstruments’ new NanoWrist instruments are commercially available in Europe. Their tips are half the width of the company’s standard microinstruments. They also have a tapered design for connecting vessels under one millimeter in diameter. The instrument design allows for the delicate holding of 10-0 to 12-0 sutures.
The Symani surgical robot addresses the challenges of microsurgery. It utilizes the NanoWrist instruments to access and suture small, delicate anatomy. That includes as veins, arteries, nerves and lymphatic vessels as small as 0.3mm in diameter. It provides motion scaling and tremor reduction to allow precise micro-movements. Medical Microinstruments said it enables lymphatic surgery by adding precision that not every surgeon can achieve.
“The launch of our new supermicro instruments is a significant milestone as we push the boundaries of robotic surgery to address even smaller vessels that few surgeons are able to connect by hand,” Medical Microinstruments CEO Mark Toland said in the news release. “We’re excited that our innovative solutions will allow more surgeons to perform microsurgical techniques and help expand patient access to supermicrosurgeries for chronic illnesses like lymphedema, a burdensome condition that affects 250 million people around the world.”
