Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) recently received regulatory approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to market its da Vinci S System in Japan. The approval thus broadens Intuitive’s geographical presence and is likely to expand its international revenues.
 
The da Vinci Surgical System is an advanced robot-assisted surgical system that represents a new generation in surgery. The da Vinci Surgical System consists of a surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart, and a high performance vision system. The product line also includes proprietary “wristed” instruments and surgical accessories.
 
The da Vinci Surgical System translates the surgeon’s natural hand movements on instrument controls at a console into corresponding micro-movements of instruments positioned inside the patient through small puncture incisions, or ports.
 
The da Vinci Surgical System is the only technology available commercially that can provide the surgeon with intuitive control, range of motion, fine tissue manipulation capability, and 3-D visualization characteristics of open surgery, while simultaneously allowing the surgeons to work through the small ports of minimally invasive surgery.
 
This computer-enhanced technology will enable surgeons to improve clinical outcomes while reducing the invasiveness of complex surgical procedures.
 
Intuitive’s da Vinci, da Vinci S, da Vinci Si, InSite and EndoWrist are the different variants of the da Vinci Surgical System. Intuitive had already placed a total of 1,308 da Vinci systems worldwide at the end of the third quarter. The average price per system sold in the third quarter was $1.4 million.
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