meerecompany
Professor Keun Ho Lee at the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital
Professor Keun Ho Lee of the OBGYN department at the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital led a session at the 2022 CIBEC (Catholic International Bioskills Education Center) Week on the Revo-i surgical robot.
Revo-i is a laparoscopic surgical robot developed by meerecompany, led by CEO Joon Koo Kim, with solely Korean-made technology. The session demonstrated the performance and effectiveness of Revo-i in robotic transperitoneal pelvic lymphadenectomy and robotic transperitoneal paraaortic lymphadenopathy.
Following the session, Professor Lee was interviewed by Sang-cheol Lee, a reporter from Korean medical media Whosaeng, on his evaluation of the surgical robot. A summary of the interview is shown below in English. For the full interview in Korean, please click here.
“Revo-i is not unfamiliar compared to existing surgical robots, so it is easy to learn. I think it will be competitive enough in the market as more and more people use it. I expect Revo-i to be the breakthrough achievement in the surgical robot field of Korea.”
Professor Lee said, “I think more than 90% of gynecological surgery, including basic gynecological surgery and difficult cancer surgery, will be covered by Revo-i.” He added, “In this seminar, pelvic lymph node dissection and aortic lymph node resection, which are the most difficult surgeries in gynecology, were performed with Revo-i. Although I did it myself at the 2019 seminar, not only the local medical staff who were new to Revo-i, but also foreign medical staff were provided opportunities to try surgery demonstrations. I hope domestic and foreign medical staff will get more opportunities to experience Revo-i.”
He stressed that Revo-i could be a good option for surgeons who don’t have previous experience in robotic surgery.
Professor Lee said, “After today’s demonstration, I received a lot of positive feedback from medical staff who are new to the robot, saying, ‘It was easy to use due to low the heterogeneity in terms of robot surgery and usability.’ I expect it will provide a good opportunity for surgeons who are new to robotic surgery.”
He also said, “In the obstetrics and gynecology area, it is competitive enough to perform almost all surgeries.”
Revo-i was regarded as advantageous for the medical staff who are new to it because they can learn quickly, thanks to its ergonomic design that considered user convenience.
At this seminar, Revo-i was evaluated that it has been continuously upgraded. In particular, its vision was greatly improved, compared to 2019. Professor Lee evaluated that he could not feel the difference between Revo-i and competing products after overseeing robotic surgery sessions at this seminar.
Professor Lee is presenting Revo-i at the 2022 CIBEC Week.
However, Professor Lee commented that it is crucial for Revo-i to accumulate more clinical data for it to be widely distributed.
Revo-i is currently used in Korea Cancer Center Hospital, and clinical cases are increasing as it is used in urology, surgery, obstetrics, and gynecology.
Professor Lee also predicted that the increase in robotic surgery cases at the hospital will be a very important momentum. In addition, Professor Lee mentioned that in order for Revo-i to continuously expand its surgical applications, related surgical protocols must be developed and expanded.
The company’s effort to develop Revo-i was also recognized by the professor.
He said: “From the perspective of meerecompany, I think it is very questionable in terms of the financial perspective. Surgical robot projects take a long time to research and develop, and large-scale R&D investment costs must be committed.” He added, “Nevertheless, I could feel the company’s willingness to improve Revo-i in that it has been steadily leading the development of surgical robots, which many large companies have given up on.”
Professor Lee explains that the results of these efforts are continuing. It is rumored that most of the foreign medical staff who participated in the seminar showed high interest in the fact that Revo-i was exclusively developed with Korean technology.
In fact, Saudi medical staff who participated were highly interested. The professor stressed that “Revo-i could be a milestone in the field of surgical robots.”
However, he also emphasized that for the development of domestic surgical robots, the company’s own efforts are insufficient and the government’s support, such as deregulation, will be needed.
Surgical Robotics Technology
