Asensus Surgical (NYSE:ASXC) announced today that it entered into a lease agreement with a Japanese hospital for its Senhance surgical robot.
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Asensus entered the agreement with Kitakyushu General Hospital. It marks the second Senhance system leased at the hospital in the Kyushu area of Japan. Asensus placed the first one in Japan in January 2020. Kitakyushu is the first hospital to install multiple Senhance surgical robots and it completed more than 300 procedures with the system to date.
Asensus continues to expand its reach in Japan following last week’s Senhance placement in Kashiwa. Additionally, In September, Saiseikai Shiga Hospital in Ritto, Japan, agreed to lease a surgical robot.
“We are very excited to see one of our first Japanese placements expanding their Senhance program to include a second system,” said Anthony Fernando, Asensus Surgical President and CEO. “This milestone speaks to the clinical value that the Senhance System and the Intelligent Surgical Unit™ bring to a surgeon, and hospital, as well as the wide applicability of the system to many different types of procedures in multiple specialities.”
About the Senhance platform from Asensus
Senhance is a first-of-its-kind digital laparoscopic surgical robot. It uses augmented intelligence to perform procedures through machine learning. It features surgical assurance through haptic feedback, eye-tracking camera control, and 3D visualization.
The platform offers 3mm instruments, making it the first such platform to do so. They represent the smallest instrument available in the world on a robotic surgical platform, Asensus says.
Senhance enables machine vision-driven control of its camera for a surgeon by responding to commands and recognizing objects and locations. It allows the surgeon to change the visualized field of view using the movement of their instruments.
Dr. Naoki Nagata, president of Kitakyushu General Hospital, said the hospital received positive feedback on Senhance so far.
“Given the immense success of the first Senhance System, we are thrilled to be adding another unit to our surgical offerings,” said Nagata. “[We] are pleased to be expanding the utilization of the Senhance systems to deliver better and safer outcomes for our patients.”