Demand For Robots in Surgery Set to Increase

Arundhati Parmar

Surgeons are more and more relying on robotic tools for surgery in the U.S.

Research based on a survey of U.S. surgeons conducted by RBC Capital Markets show that in 2016, surgeons expect their robotic general surgery procedures to grow about 35% year over year.

Breaking down into subsegments, surgeons expect robotics colorectal penetration in their medical practices to grow to 23% in one year from 15% where it is currently. That figure will jump to around 23%, in two years and 31%, five years from now. 

For hernia the robotics penetration will rise to 16% in one year from 9% today. In two years it will stand at 23% and in five years to 31%.

The survey points out that surgeons are satisfied with Intuitive Surgical's products and expect the number of Xi systems made by the company to increase by 50% over the next 12 months.

"Given the existing money/time investments made in ISRG’s da Vinci platform, we believe new robotics platforms will have to be differentiated in order to drive meaningful switching," the report stated.

However, the report also suggests that there is room for multiple players such as Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and TransEnterix, which is set to introduce the next robot - SurgiBot - to enter the U.S. market.

Arundhati Parmar is senior editor at MD+DI. Reach her at [email protected] and on Twitter @aparmarbb