FlexDex, a new minimally invasive surgical tool system that we’ve grown quite fond of, has now been used for the first time in a number of operations at Michigan Medicine. We tried the FlexDex ourselves during a visit to the company’s offices last year and, hoping not to exaggerate, we felt that the system really is set to revolutionize minimally invasive surgery. It is even set to compete with expensive robotic surgical systems at a cost orders of magnitude lower.
Unlike existing commonly used minimally invasive tools, the FlexDex is very intuitive and ergonomic to use. The working tip flexes in the same direction as the handle and it can be rotated infinitely in one direction by simply rotating the handle. There are no levers to turn or buttons to press. There’s only a trigger that always rests in the palm that is used to activate the instrument at the tip. Here’s a short video of a twelve year old stitching using the FlexDex to dissolve any doubts about its ease of use.
FlexDex Inc. is a spinoff of the University of Michigan, and the university has just released this video with the team that helped to develop and commercialize it showing off how it works:
Flashbacks: Hands-On With The Revolutionary FlexDex Laparascopic Instrument Platform…; FlexDex: A New Control System for Minimally Invasive Surgical Tools…; Medgadget’s Best Medical Technologies of 2016…
Link: FlexDex…
More from University of Michigan…