When humans perform delicate tasks, their hands naturally tremble. Surgeons who specialize in microsurgery have spent considerable time mastering the high level of skill required to control this tremor and manipulate fine needles and threads using a microscope.
In 2016, Professor Kadota and his team at Kyushu University initiated a project to develop a “robotic system to support microsurgery for facilitating the anastomosis of 1mm diameter blood vessels” and began its development. Aiming to eliminate hand tremors to the greatest extent possible while replicating the surgeon’s movements, their development efforts led to the successful anastomosis of a 2mm artificial blood vessel with the first prototype in 2019. In October of last year, they succeeded in anastomosing a 0.5mm artificial blood vessel, and eight years after the initial project began, they are now developing the third prototype, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. In this lecture, I will discuss the global situation surrounding the dedicated vascular anastomosis robot.

In Professor Isao Koshima’s opening lecture, the focus will be on topics such as lymphatic vessel transplantation,　photoacoustic imaging lymphatic perforator mapping, lymphedema, and objective evaluation using bioimpedance. The latest research findings and clinical applications in these areas will be presented.

After the lecture, the panel discussion with the speakers will feature Dr. Makoto Mihara and Dr. Hisako Hara, who are involved in the research and development of the Sony Microsurgery Robot, as well as Dr. Alexandru Nistor, who is participating in the research and development of the Symani Surgical System by MMI, as panelists. Please be sure to tune in.