A gathering of more than sixty of the world’s top robotic surgeons will meet in Miami for the “Humans at the Cutting Edge of Robotic Surgery” symposium on November 19th. Sponsored by the Vattikuti Foundation, the day-long program will feature sessions for surgeons in Orthopedics (Joint Repair/Replacement), Gastroenterology, Gynecology, Urology, Thoracic, and Head & Neck Surgery.
“While a surgical robot uses technology to exponentially improve patient outcomes, the surgeons are those who continuously innovate to create procedures with better patient outcomes. This is precisely why the symposium presents an opportunity to learn from eminent robotic surgeons, we call: ‘humans at the cutting edge of technology,” said Dr Mahendra Bhandari, Vattikuti Foundation CEO. “Attendees are encouraged to network and learn from their peers in an effort to continue in this path of progression.”
The Vattikuti Foundation received innovation submissions from 20 countries, with robotic surgeons from India, Greece, Italy, France, and the US who will present their work. Symposium sessions will examine topics ranging from “How Surgical Precision Improves Patient Outcomes” to “What is New in Robotic Kidney Transplantation?”
Twenty world-renown robotic surgeons will moderate the sessions such as:
- Mani Menon, MD and Peter Wiklund, MD, PhD of Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
- Alex Mottrie MD, Ph.D OLV Hospital, Aalst, Belgium, CEO of ORSI Academy, Melle, Belgium;
- Pier Cristoforo Giulianotti, MD, FACS, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Emre Gorgun, MD, FACS, FASCRS of Cleveland Clinic
- James O. Peabody, MD of Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI
- Arnold P. Advincula, MD, FACOG, FACS of Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Inderbir Singh Gill MD of USC Institute of Urology
- Alessandro Volpe, M.D. Maggiore della Carità Hospital, Novara, Italy.
At an evening ceremony, the Vattikuti Foundation will award prizes for the robotic surgery innovation submissions for the “Best robotic surgery paper” and the 2022 KS International Robotic Surgery Innovation Awards.
Previously focusing on robotic surgery in India, this is the first international iteration of the KS Robotic Surgery Innovation Awards, which has been run for seven years previously by the Vattikuti Foundation. The third prize award goes to a team of specialists, including Alberto Piana, Paolo Verri, and Alberto Breda of the Oncology Urology Unit and Kidney Transplant Surgical Team Urology Department from Fundació Puigvert in Barcelona, Spain for the video submission: 3D augmented reality guided robotic-assisted kidney transplant.
The first prize is awarded to Jihad Kaouk, MD FACS FRCS, Professor of Surgery Zagarac Pollock Endowed Chair in Robotic Surgery, Director, Center for Robotic and Image Guided Surgery Vice Chair, Enterprise Surgical Operations, Cleveland Clinic for the submission: Single Port Robot-Assisted Kidney Transplantation Extraperitoneal Approach. In this innovation, Dr. Kaouk and his team modified the technique of robotic kidney transplant developed at the Vattikuti Urology Institute and Medanta Medicity. Kaouk used a da Vinci single-port robot for truly minimally invasive surgery.
The Vattikuti Foundation has supported robotic surgery research, training, scholarships, and Fellowships. Over 100 young surgeons have been awarded one-year Fellowships with some of the world’s top robotic surgeons. Many of these Vattikuti Fellows have gone on to lead programs in hospitals around the world.
Following the symposium’s conclusion, videos of the sessions will join nearly 900-videos about Robotic Surgery on the Vattikuti Foundation’s website. This virtual library of procedures is an educational resource for robotic surgeons and the public seeking to learn more about minimally-invasive robotic surgery.