Acusurgical Sets Its Sights on the Retina
Based at the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics (Lirmm), the startup Acusurgical is working on the design of a new medical robot. Its specialty: retinal surgery. This innovation promises to revolutionize the field by increasing surgical precision tenfold.
“Some types of microsurgery on the eye require such precision that, even today, they remain the preserve of a select group of surgeons.” And thus, of a minority of patients. This observation, made by Yassine Haddab, a specialist in precision robotics and researcher at Lirmm, forms the basis for the Montpellier-based startup Acusurgical.
It all began with Christoph Spuhler, an engineer from Zurich who had worked at Med Tech, Bertin Nahoum’s company. Through his various experiences, he saw the potential to expand the scope of eye microsurgery to new conditions with the help of robotics.“Surgery on the retina is a highly risky procedure that is sometimes not even accessible by hand.” His idea was to design a robot capable of replicating human movements with greater precision and safety, and without the slightest tremor.
From Robotics to Clinical Applications
In 2017, Christoph Spuhler reached out to LIRMM, a laboratory he knew to have extensive expertise in the field of surgical robotics. He then began working with Yassine Haddab and Philippe Poignet, a specialist in surgical robotics and director of LIRMM. In May 2018, thanks to funding from SATT Axlr, the three of them launched the proof-of-concept project that would lead, two years later, to the creation of the startup Acusurgical. They co-founded the company with two surgeons from Saint-Étienne who had joined the team in the meantime to contribute their clinical expertise. In addition to hiring three engineers funded through the business development project, funding from Muse—as part of the Companies on Campus program—enabled the recruitment of an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) imaging specialist for a 12-month period.
The Rectinoct project thus combines imaging, robotics, and, of course, the surgeon’s expertise. A microscope captures an image of the patient’s retina and transmits it via a screen to the surgeon, who performs the standard surgical maneuvers. Instead of holding a surgical instrument, the surgeon uses a joystick-like device integrated into a console, which is connected to the robot that instantly performs the surgical procedure on the patient.“The robot can perform ten times better than the surgeon’s hand,” explains Philippe Poignet. “It allows us to achieve much greater precision and operational safety.”
Expand to other conditions
The result: the ability to provide not only better care but also more of it.“This opens up therapeutic possibilities for conditions that previously could not be treated surgically,” the director continues. Epiretinal membrane (ERM), macular holes, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are all conditions that could benefit from this innovation.
After being tested on rabbits at the Saint-Étienne University Hospital last February, the first human trials of this technology are scheduled for late 2021, with commercialization planned for 2023.“We hope that the CE marking process, which will allow the product to be brought to market in Europe, will be approved in 2022. We’re targeting the international market, so we’ll then submit an application for FDA approval for the U.S. market,” explains Christoph Spuhler, who, much like his robot, is opening up new horizons in retinal surgery.