Corindus, a Siemens Healthineers Company and leading developer of precision vascular robotics, announced today its CorPath GRX System was used to complete the first-in-human robotic-assisted neurovascular intervention. The procedure was performed by the team led by Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira, a neurosurgeon and neuroradiologist at the Toronto Western Hospital and Krembil Brain Institute in Canada on November 1. The landmark robotic-assisted stent assisted aneurysm coiling case marked a significant milestone in interventional medicine as the first step in building towards a new treatment paradigm for patients suffering from neurovascular disease.

“The field of neurovascular intervention is changing rapidly, but there remains a significant need to expand access to care and reduce treatment times,” said Mark Toland, CEO of Corindus. “Implementing robotic capability for neurovascular intervention is the first step toward our vision of providing patients access to the world’s best specialists regardless of their geographic location. Building a body of clinical research on neurovascular robotics while training physicians to be robotics experts today will allow us to maximize physician impact and reach with remote telerobotics tomorrow.”

Prior to the procedure, Dr. Pereira performed a rehearsal on a Biomodex 3D-printed flow model of the specific anatomy of the patient, a 64-year-old female Canadian resident. Using the 3D model allowed Dr. Pereira to develop a plan for the novel robotic procedure and ensure an optimal treatment approach. During the actual procedure, Drs. TimoKrings and Patrick Nicholson, neuroradiologists, provided bedside physician support while Nicole Cancelliere, medical radiation technologist, acted as the bedside robotic technician.

“Precision is a key element of neurovascular interventions, and it is evident to me that augmenting these delicate procedures with robotic assistance can positively impact how we treat patients,” Dr. Pereira said. “I felt honored to perform this procedure and look forward to continuing to support the development of robotic technology to help address access issues of stroke patients in the community.”

Last month, Siemens Healthineers AG completed its acquisition of Corindus to accelerate the development of robotic technology to address the existing problem of access to care for emergent procedures such as heart attack and stroke.