TransEnterix Continues to Advance Laparoscopic Surgery Through Innovation

March 23, 2011 - PRLog -- RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – TransEnterix, which is changing the surgical landscape with its innovative SPIDER® Surgical System, has unveiled a new set of minimally invasive instruments for surgeons.

Called the SPIDER MicroLap instruments, the new line includes all of the familiar tools surgeons use during laparoscopic procedures – only in TransEnterix’s case, each instrument is 2.7 millimeters or less in diameter. Typically, laparoscopic surgical instruments range in diameter size from 5 to 10 millimeters.  

The extremely small size of the instruments means that instead of needing a scalpel to make necessary incisions, the surgeon need use only a special skin incision pick. And the patient comes away from the procedure with just a freckle-like mark.

“TransEnterix is on a mission – we advance health care by reducing the invasiveness of surgery for patients and by enhancing the capabilities of surgeons,” said Todd M. Pope, president and CEO. “The new SPIDER MicroLap instrument line gives surgeons highly functional tools so they can perform advanced yet minimally invasive procedures like gastric band and gastric sleeve. As part of our focus in bariatric surgery, we anticipate that surgeons and patients will quickly embrace these smaller and less invasive tools.”

Because their use requires no open incision, the SPIDER MicroLap instruments advance the field of laparoscopic surgery into an entirely new category – micro-laparoscopic surgery. Although competitors sell some instruments that are less than 5 millimeters in diameter, TransEnterix’s SPIDER MicroLap instrument line is the only complete and re-useable set of sub-3-millimeter instruments currently available in the market.

TransEnterix’s SPIDER MicroLap instruments are crafted from a proprietary ceramic-titanium alloy that ensures strength despite their small diameter. They can be used independently or in conjunction with TransEnterix’s SPIDER Surgical System, the only single-incision and multi-port surgical system that delivers intra-abdominal triangulation, 360-degree flexible instrumentation and a stable operative platform. Using both systems together, surgeons can perform advanced procedures through less invasive means.

“One surgeon told us that when his patient came in after SPIDER MicroLap surgery neither of them could even locate the tiny incisions,” Pope said. “By improving cosmetic results, SPIDER MicroLap tools also promote patient privacy, because no one – even surgeons – can tell just by looking at someone whether he or she has undergone a surgical procedure.”

Since its start in 2006, TransEnterix has grown into a cutting-edge medical device company that has raised $60 million in venture capital funding and commercialized operations in the United States and Europe. The company partners with medical thought-leaders to quickly develop pioneering technologies that advance minimally invasive surgery.

The TransEnterix SPIDER System has been featured on the national TV talk show, “The Doctors,” and profiled in Esquire magazine by America’s favorite surgeon, Dr. Oz. Surgeons worldwide are using it to treat obesity and colon cancer, and to remove kidneys and gallbladders.

NOTE TO MEDIA: High-resolution photos of SPIDER MicroLap instruments are available on request.