First Procedure Conducted in Europe with Medtronic’s Hugo Robotic-Assisted Surgery System

Medtronic (Doral, FL, USA) has announced that the first clinical procedure in Europe was performed with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system at OLV Hospital (Aalst, Belgium).

A form of minimally invasive surgery, robotic-assisted surgery offers fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, faster return to normal activities, and smaller scars than open surgery. The Hugo RAS system - Medtronic's solution to historic cost and utilization barriers that have kept surgical robotics out of reach for many hospitals - is a modular, multi-quadrant platform designed for a broad range of soft-tissue procedures. It combines wristed instruments, 3D visualization, and Touch Surgery Enterprise, a cloud-based surgical video capture and management solution, with dedicated support teams specializing in robotics program optimization, service, and training. In 2021, Medtronic announced the first urologic and gynecologic procedures with the Hugo system in Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Those procedures and cases in Europe will become part of the Hugo RAS system patient registry, which is collecting clinical data to support regulatory submissions around the world.

"Performing Europe's very first procedure with the Hugo RAS system is a career highlight for me," said Prof. Alexandre Mottrie, M.D., head of urology at OLV Hospital in Aalst, Belgium, who performed the robotic prostatectomy. "With more than two decades and 4,000 robotic-assisted surgery procedures under my belt, I am intimately aware of the barriers that have kept the benefits of surgical robotics from physicians, hospitals, and patients. Now, I believe we are entering a new era filled with greater access and flexibility."

"We're incredibly proud to have left our stamp on medical history as the very first center in the region to embrace surgical robotics in 1999," said Peter Verhulst, chief executive officer, OLV Hospital Aalst. "Decades later, we are delighted to be recognized as a robotic surgery center of excellence, leaving another indelible mark as the first hospital in all of Europe to offer the Hugo RAS system and the first in the world to have Medtronic's two RAS platforms - the Hugo system for soft tissue and the Mazor system for spinal surgery."

"This is an exciting and important moment for healthcare in Europe and we're proud to share it with Dr. Mottrie and the team at OLV," said Megan Rosengarten, president of the Surgical Robotics business, which is part of the Medical Surgical Portfolio at Medtronic.

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OLV Hospital