Invuity Inc. is bringing a bright new look to the surgical field with a new type of illumination that is giving surgeons the opportunity to see inside the human body better than ever before. The company’s Eigr waveguide system directs standard light through a maze of advanced optical polymer structures that reflect and direct the light so it shines uniformly across – as one surgeon describes it – a “deep, dark incision.” Surgeons say the additional light enables them to do surgeries more quickly and effectively, and Invuity says someday its light might be capable of doing much, much more.
Invuity Sees A Clear Path In Minimally Invasive Surgery
Article preview from IN VIVO - July, 2012
Start-up Invuity is applying its own special skill set to the pursuit of minimally invasive surgeries. Rather than design and develop high end surgical tools to blaze a trail of new procedures, the company has developed a vibrant light source that can illuminate the “deep, dark holes” where surgeons do their work.
A primary objective of companies in the medical device field is to enable larger procedures to be done through smaller incisions. In some cases, surgeons and interventionalists can track their progress on a CT scan or through the camera of an endoscope. But those less-invasive procedures that don’t allow for that level of visualization have largely been lit by the same technology employed for decades – a ceiling light or a lamp affixed to the forehead of the surgeon. With this ambient and indirect light, surgeons are trying to perform delicate surgeries down “deep, dark holes” that will only get deeper and darker as new procedures are developed to spare patients from suffering unsightly scars or enduring unintended side effects. Performing minimally invasive surgery this way is like looking for an item under a couch using only the floor lamp behind you as illumination.
While venture capitalists and entrepreneurs spend nearly all of their time, money and efforts on creating the tools to make those less invasive procedures possible, very few resources have been committed to lighting the way for surgeons to use those tools. Device developers clearly assume that existing imaging and illumination technologies are sufficient to accommodate the high tech tools they’re developing, and larger medical suppliers seem content offering fiber optic-equipped products as a potential solution. But the success enjoyed by start-up Invuity Inc.suggests the assumption might be incorrect; device makers have spent their time building high powered cars without worrying enough about the headlights that make driving safe. Historically, device companies developing new cannulas, catheters or other pieces of the infrastructure of the surgical suite haven’t generated the returns of those that develop new surgical devices. But the growing allegiance to Invuity’s Eigr illumination technology among surgeons and the intense interest from investors in the company’s latest round suggests the company might prove to be an exception to that rule.
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