Fort Worth Bariatric Surgeon Adopts SPIDER® System for Gastric Banding

Jan. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- FORT WORTH, TEXAS – As one of Fort Worth’s most prominent bariatric surgeons, Dr. Adam Smith understands that less incisions generally means less pain for his patients. It’s one reason why he finds the TransEnterix SPIDER® Surgical System, a new advance in minimally invasive surgery, so appealing.

And speaking as a patient who lost – and kept off – 100 pounds after undergoing gastric band surgery himself, Smith is in an unique position to appreciate what “less pain and faster full recovery” means for other bariatric patients.

“I wish SPIDER had been available to me when I underwent my own gastric band procedure,” Smith said. “It’s common sense that the higher the incision count, the more painful the surgery generally is.”

The SPIDER system completely changes the state of single-incision surgery by resolving problems created by older, first-generation systems.

Smith tried other single-incision systems and found them difficult to use because they didn’t change the tools with which the surgeon worked. Rather, the surgeon was expected to put traditional rigid laparoscopic tools through a single incision. The result was a small, crowded operating site that impeded the surgeon’s vision and dexterity and made rigid instruments ineffectively stack and cross.

Indeed, other systems slowed down Smith to the point that he abandoned them altogether. “I quickly realized I wasn’t doing a patient any favors by giving her four hours of anesthesia for a procedure that normally took 45 minutes to complete,” he said.

With the SPIDER system, Smith makes a small incision, inserts the device, and opens it up inside the patient’s abdomen like an umbrella. SPIDER’s expansion allows him to comfortably and precisely manipulate 360-degree-rotating, flexible instruments at angles that enhance his access and dexterity at the operating site. When finished, Smith closes the SPIDER system and removes it through the same incision.

“As far as I am concerned, SPIDER is the best single-incision system on the market right now,” he said. “It represents the next logical evolutionary step in surgery. I love SPIDER’s technology. The precision of movement is far superior to any other system I’ve tried, and I have better visualization and dissection ability.”

Smith, who has more than 13 years of experience successfully performing advanced laparoscopic surgical procedures, began treating morbid obesity exclusively in 2004. He is a member of the Council for Advances in Bariatrics, the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons. To learn more about Smith, his partners and his practice, Fort Worth Lap-Band®, visit http://fortworthlapband.com.

The SPIDER system’s ability to open up inside the abdomen and its flexible instruments are proprietary technologies created by TransEnterix; they are not available in any other system on the market. Surgeons throughout the world are using the SPIDER system to successfully treat obesity, colon cancer and hernias, and to remove kidneys and gallbladders. To see how it works, visit http://www.spidersurgery.com

TransEnterix partners with leading medical thought-leaders to rapidly develop pioneering technologies that
advance minimally invasive surgery. The company is commercializing its operations and marketing the SPIDER Surgical System in the United States and Europe. Since its start in 2006, the company has secured $75 million in venture capital funding. To learn more, visit http://www.transenterix.com

NOTE TO MEDIA: B-roll videotape, B-roll animation and high-resolution photos of SPIDER are available.