Dual-Robot Surgery - World's First

I found an intriguing story last week from IoT World Today where a University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center doctor conducted the first-ever robotic surgery using two distinct systems.

Per the article:

Jeffrey Cadeddu, a urologist and professor at UT Southwestern, used Levita Magnetics Mars surgical platform alongside Intuitive 's Da Vinci SP single-port robot to successfully remove a patient’s prostate gland.

“This procedure marks the beginning of multiple-robot cooperation and integration into the operating room,” added Vipul Patel, a pioneer in robotic urological surgery and the medical director of AdventHealth’s Global Robotics Institute. “Two different systems working together in harmony to provide the optimal service to the surgeon and patient.”

Market Basket Analysis 101

Complements and substitutes are two central concepts to characterize relationships between products, with well-established definitions in economics. For example, what is the likelihood of a consumer purchasing two complementary products like hot dogs and hot dog buns in the same transaction - highly likely (unless you are on an Atkins diet, of course!). On the other hand, it is unlikely the same consumer would purchase two substitute products with their hot dogs by buying both Heinz and Hunt's ketchup - highly unlikely.

Market basket analysis takes the basic concept of complements and substitutes to the next level to find those combination of products that would drive more sales. Market basket analysis is a common data mining technique used by retailers to increase sales by understanding customer purchasing patterns.

Medical Device - Market Basket Analysis

Medical Device companies (i.e. 美敦力 and Johnson & Johnson MedTech ) utilize this market basket analysis in terms of bundling complementary products. This gives these med tech giants both leverage and the ability to provide steep discounts to those hospitals systems that are willing to commit to a sole vendor (a reliance of 80% to 90% dedication to all purchases) with a multi-year contract provided very steep discounts. In med device, the complementary products are typically a surgical device along with sutures or biosurgery products. Thus, today's article from IoT World Today was intriguing for surgical device manufactures - handheld and robotic.

Two Robots Better Than One ?

This news from Intuitive and Levita Magnetics put forth the idea of complementary robots working together, which until now, seemed as likely as dogs and cats living together (line from Ghostbusters - 1984)! Many of these aspiring robots are more likely substitutes but some may be complementary, as I read in the IoT World Today article.

Per this post and report by Lucien Blondel (above image), there are 170+ surgical robots on the market or striving to be in the market in the future. Given the situation with hospital systems finances in the United States and globally, there is not a market for 170+ surgical robots.

It will be interesting to watch the development of the variety of systems and capabilities find as each robotic system tries to find their place as a complementary, substitute, or bolt-on (partner or acquisition) in the high-stakes game of musical chairs.

#medicaldevice #medicaldevicesales #Innovation #MedTech #ArtificialIntelligence #Healthcare #Leadership #GlobalTrends #Collaboration #Growth #FutureOfWork #Sustainability #DigitalTransformation #Technology #Networking #ChangeMakers #HappyNewYear2025

Joseph W. Sunderman is an Intelligence Analyst/Strategist that is a student of understanding the Current State of the US Health and its impact for the next decade. I developed the thesis over several months for Directions Research Group. Upon completion of boiling the ocean on the topic and created an impeccable deliverable, which can be found in my project section of my LinkedIn page.

In the past, Joe spent seven years at medical device giant Ethicon (division of Johnson & Johnson) with the most recent role as US Regional Manager of Strategic Insights and Pricing. In his seven years at JNJ, he received recognition for his servant leadership, where he was a stand out in performance by being a top 10% recipient of Encore and Inspire Awards over multiple years. Dozens and dozens of accolades from contributors to senior leaders for his collaborative work. Prior to Ethicon, Joe has had a wide variety of experiences in medical claims, banking, publishing, and retail. He began his career at Schaeffer's Investment Research as a financial analyst, where he was ranked by Bridge Information Systems as one of the top 10 market analysts for three straight years for his commentary and stock picks found in Schaeffer's Daily Bulletin. Joe has been published in the Market Pulse Journal and Chartpoint and his market comments have been printed in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Dow Jones News Wire, and Reuters. Also, Joe has made appearances on Bloomberg television.