Middle School Science Cafe Highlights What’s New in Robotic Surgery 

Thayer Academy Middle School students always enjoy a satisfying lunch, but on Sept. 25 a handful of Middle School students got to enjoy a satisfying lunch and learn more about cutting-edge medical technologies that seem right out of a science fiction novel. 

To kick off this year’s Middle School Science Cafe series, Harel Gadot P ’30, ’32 — the CEO, president, and chairman of Microbot Medical, a Hingham-based company specializing in transformational robotic technologies — visited campus during lunch and demonstrated one of his company’s latest products, the LIBERTY Endovascular Robotic System, a single-use, remotely operated robotic system for peripheral endovascular procedures. It’s the first device of its kind to be cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

“It’s been six years [of development and testing], and we just got FDA approval two weeks ago,” Gadot told his enthusiastic audience, adding that it typically takes between six and 10 years to bring such products to market. The device, Gadot said, has already been used in roughly 20 patient procedures. According to the company’s website, there are approximately 2.5 million peripheral endovascular procedures annually in the United States. 

Accompanying Gadot on this Thayer lunch visit was Dr. Juan Diaz-Cartelle, a vascular surgeon and the company’s chief medical officer. After giving students a quick refresher course on the human circulatory system, Diaz-Cartelle explained how the robotic surgical device uses a metal guidewire — think train tracks — to deliver a microcather — think the actual train — which then provides the needed treatment exactly where it needs to be. To do this, incisions are made in either the groin area or the wrists, allowing the remotely controlled catheter to snake its way through the body “with millimetric precision.” The metal guidewires measure 1/14000th of an inch wide, or slightly thicker than a human hair. Such catheterizations are often used with stroke management or cancer treatment. 

There are many advantages to this robotic system, said Diaz-Cartelle, but the surgeon focused on three major improvements: the procedure reduces radiation exposure for physicians who must typically rely on X-rays for more traditional endovascular catheterizations; it likewise reduces the physical strain on those physicians, who now can perform procedures using a simple remote control console rather than standing over the patient wearing heavy lead aprons; and the minimally invasive and more accurate procedure provides less scarring for patients. 

“If you are more precise at doing a task,” Diaz-Cartelle said, “the results will be better for the patient.” 

Students peppered Diaz-Cartelle and Gadot with questions before getting to use the device themselves thanks to a model circulatory system brought in for the occasion. Gadot joked with students that, while it takes decades of education to perform such robotic surgeries, it takes less than a minute to learn how to operate the console. 

“If you play Xbox, then it’s easy,” Gadot said. 

Organized by Middle School Science Department Head Natalie Young, the Science Cafe series introduces STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) topics to interested middle schoolers.