A robot's steady hands: first patients treated with a next-generation heart robot — 20 out of 20 successes

In Saint-Denis, France, twenty heart patients have become the first in the world to be treated with a next-generation robotic system for coronary interventions — the delicate work of unblocking heart arteries. Interventional cardiologists Dr Mohammed Nejjari and Dr Franck Digne, at the Centre Cardiologique du Nord, used the Robocath system across a range of cases, including complex, twisting arteries. Every one of the 20 procedures met its clinical success target, 19 of 20 were completed entirely robotically, and there were no device-related complications through 30 days of follow-up. The team presented the results on 1 November at the TCT cardiology conference in San Diego. It is an early pilot — a fuller scientific paper is still under review — but as first steps go, twenty for twenty is the kind a new technology dreams of.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation