Dr. Shakuri-Rad discusses the da Vinci 5 robotic system

The da Vinci 5 (DV5) robotic system was granted 510(k) clearance by the FDA in March 2024.¹ In this video, Jaschar Shakuri-Rad, DO, FACOS, highlights key improvements with DV5 compared with previous iterations of the device. Shakuri-Rad is a urologist, da Vinci robotic surgeon, and the medical director of robotic surgery at Mon Health Medical Center in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Video Transcript:

The da Vinci 5, or DV5, system is the next evolution of robotic surgery. We live in a connected world. We are all connected through our smartphones, computers, tablets, etc., and da Vinci 5 is now connecting the operating rooms. We have a connected world, why not have connected ORs? That's really what DV5 does for us. DV5 has some very unique features that I think are going to be impactful in the near future. One of those features is to bring all of the advanced tools that Intuitive offers into an ecosystem that we can use to communicate with each other, our tools can communicate better, the software of the robotic systems can communicate with each other, and we have the capability of developing more tools on the software side of things as well. The DV5 has significant computing power, and this computing power is going to be used in the future to develop even more novel tools without having to switch the hardware. Some of the benefits are going to be the HUB system, for example. The Intuitive HUB connects us surgeons together, allows us to seamlessly record videos, take pictures, edit those, and share with patients, patients' families, referring physicians, as well as use those images and videos for educational purposes. That's a really nice feature to have when we go to conferences and we want to share our difficult cases or unique cases with each other; it makes it seamless.

Another great feature of DV5, which hasn't been around before, is the force feedback. We get some tactile feedback when we are operating. This can be very impactful, and the true impact of that we actually don't know quite yet, because so far, we've operated with our eyes. Now, we're going to add touch, and we're going to add sensation to how we interact with tissues and materials like sutures inside the body. The force feedback is going to allow us to see how hard we are pulling on tissue. Are we causing some trauma? Are we stretching tissues too far? Now, using the data that's going to be generated from the force feedback, it's going to allow us to examine those things and see if we can do things a little bit better than what we have been doing.

Then, that brings us to another feature, which is the data portion. Intuitive gathers quite a bit of data using DV5 because of its increased computing power. That data can now be analyzed, and we can develop more unique platform platforms and more unique datasets that will help us improve upon the existing surgeries that we do. You may even find that what we were doing in the past is not as good as what we could be doing in the future just using the data. That's something that's going to evolve over the next few years, I think.

Some of the other features that are I think very nice and unique is that instead of having multiple tools from multiple manufacturers for multiple devices in the OR, we can have 1 tower that has everything built into it. Whether you want to do laparoscopic cases, robotic cases, or a combination of both laparoscopic and robotic cases, you can do that now all with 1 system. So, the operating room is going to be a little bit easier to navigate. The staff members in the operating room are going to have an easier time to learn how to use these tools and set them up for the surgeons. That reduces turnover times potentially. Again, some of that data will develop as more folks get access to it. Another benefit is you can use the laparoscopic video camera that's available on DV5 and put it inside the body and have a picture in picture view inside the robot. Now, you can look at the anatomy from 2 different angles. Or you might be able to do something like ureteroscopy while you're operating on the kidney, so you can see the defect or the problem from inside and outside of the urinary tract. That's very unique. We haven't had that before. Some of the other features, I think it's going to be the vision itself. Whether it's the infrared camera on the laparoscopic camera arm, or the more advanced Firefly feature, I think those things will develop more as well. The natural progression might be that more imaging technologies are going to be added to it because it has the capability to support that. The computing power is so much greater. I think those are some of the initial things that I was very excited about.

Now, one of the things that all surgeons I think agree on is that the surgeon console is so much more ergonomic. It allows us to sit up straight while we are operating, or if you're a short person or a tall person, you can adjust the console quite a bit more. So, taking the ergonomics that da Vinci robotics first developed from laparoscopic to robotic, now we're taking it to a whole new level. We're taking it from the old robotic system to a much more convenient and comfortable new surgeon console. I think most of us are very excited about that. And a nice new feature is it has a phone charger. I think that's also a very neat feature that it has on the console now. Everything can be now done through the console in terms of changing settings, which also goes along with the ergonomics, but also with efficiency of the system. Now you can look through the console, use your fingers through certain clutching methods to select settings, change settings, change your instrument settings, your power settings, your insufflation settings, and many other features as well. The insufflation, as a matter of fact, is now built in. You don't have to have a third party provide that insufflation. So, it brings the cost of the system down overall, as well. Having everything housed in 1 place, I think overall will bring the cost of acquisition down as well. Instead of having a robotic tower and a lap tower, now you can just have 1 tower. And I think that's a very beneficial thing for hospitals.

This transcription has been edited for clarity.

Reference

1. Intuitive announces FDA clearance of fifth-generation robotic system, da Vinci 5. News release. Intuitive. March 14, 2024. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://isrg.intuitive.com/news-releases/news-release-details/intuitive-announces-fda-clearance-fifth-generation-robotic