Moon Surgical's first-in-human trials feature in major surgical publication

One of the ground-breaking portfolio companies from MD Start, Sofinnova Partners' medical device incubator, celebrated a big milestone last year, and now medical professionals can read all about it.

Moon Surgical's Maestro System is the subject of a detailed study ­in the Journal of Surgical Endoscopy based on ten first-in-human cholecystectomy cases performed in mid-2022 by the laparoscopy pioneer Pr. Guy-Bernard Cadière.

The bottom-line results? "All ten procedures were completed successfully. No significant complications related to the use of the Maestro system were noted."

The study is a deep-dive into how the Maestro System works and why it was created.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, or removal of the gall bladder using minimally invasive "keyhole" surgery, is one of the most common surgical procedures worldwide. Some important parts of the procedure have to be delegated to surgical assistants (like positioning the camera and pulling tissue back to expose the gall bladder so the surgeon can see what he or she is doing.)

Maestro allows the surgeon to instantly reposition instruments or have them held statically. Instead of instructing an assistant, the surgeon is in full control at the bedside of the patient.

"Over the past 20 years, surgeons involved in soft tissue minimally invasive surgery have experienced the pros and cons of both conventional and tele-robotic laparoscopic approaches," the report notes. "The Maestro System, developed by Moon Surgical (Paris, France) aims to overcome the challenges inherent to both approaches thanks to a new concept that augments the surgeon’s performance at the bedside during a laparoscopic procedure."

The full article contains many more fascinating details.