A study published online ahead of print in July in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) provides a technical description of robot-assisted uterine artery embolization and investigates the safety and feasibility of using the Magellan system (Hansen Medical) robotic catheter in the uterus.
The study was a first-in-woman safety evaluation of the Magellan system in which five women, with a mean age of nearly 50 years, underwent robot-assisted bilateral uterine artery embolization over a 10-month period using the Magellan robotic catheter. Researchers Mohamad S Hamady and colleagues, Imperial College, London, UK, recorded demographic, clinicopathologic, and endovascular performance metric data (fluoroscopy and cannulation times) associated with the procedure and short-term outcomes, after the procedure.
The researchers found that robotic cannulation of bilateral internal iliac and uterine arteries was successful in all cases. Median right and left internal iliac artery cannulation and total fluoroscopy times were three minutes, two minutes, and 11 minutes. Median right and left uterine artery cannulation times were both 11 minutes.
Hamady and colleagues report that technical success was 100% and that all patients were discharged on postoperative day one. “There were no major or access site complications. Six months after the procedure, all patients reported significant improvement of symptoms, with a median increase in health-related quality-of-life score of 58%,” the authors reported.
Hamady told Interventional News: “This safety and feasibility study shows the developing capabilities of robotic endovascular technology. It opens the door for further development in robot-assisted vascular intervention and sets the scene for more precise and efficient cannulation of complex arterial beds.”
