Cleveland Clinic First in the United States to Use Surgery Robot with Magnetic Technology to Successfully Perform Bariatric Surgery

 
Robotic magnetic technology enhances minimally invasive surgery  
Matthew Kroh M D. performs a minimally invasive gastric sleeve procedure using a robot with magnetic technology.  
Cleveland Clinic is the first medical center in the United States to have performed a minimally invasive gastric sleeve procedure using a recently FDAapproved surgery robot with magnetic technology.  
Gastric sleeve surgery also called sleeve gastrectomy is one of the most common bariatric surgery procedures. It removes a large portion of the stomach leaving behind a narrow sleeve. 

Matthew Kroh M D. section head of surgical endoscopy and vice chair of innovation and technology with Cleveland Clinics Digestive Disease Institute led the team that successfully performed the operation in September. Following the procedure to treat obesity the patient is doing well.  
Advances in robotic technology allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery with less incisions said Dr. Kroh. As a result patients experience less pain fewer scars and a quicker recovery. 
The combination of magnetic technology with a surgery robot enhances minimally invasive surgery and provides benefits for patients and surgeons. 
Reflecting on the first case using a surgical robot with magnetic technology Dr. Kroh highlighted the use of one of the robotic arms fitted with a surgical camera. It is an advantage for the surgeon to control the robotic arm with the camera to view inside the body and visualize the tissues and organs during the surgery. Without the robot the surgical camera would be fitted on a thin rod and I would communicate with an assistant to ask for the camera to be moved.  
The robot with magnetic technology was recently approved by the FDA for minimally invasive gastric sleeve surgery.
With the use of magnetic technology surgeons can use the magnet to gently manipulate tissue and organs as needed depending on the surgery.  
For the first case Dr. Kroh and lead surgeon Andrew Strong M D. used the magnetic technology to gently move the liver to see the stomach while the abdominal procedure was performed laparoscopically. Without the magnetic technology an additional incision would have been needed so that a surgical assistant could hold the liver in place during the surgery using a laparoscopic instrument.   
Dr. Kroh said that with fewer incisions patients