UK-based Alesi Surgical has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the use of its Ultravision system during surgical procedures.
The system allows improved visibilty during abdominal keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery, by clearing the vapour and particulate matter produced by surgical cutting instruments.
Equipped with electrostatic technology, the system generates a small, low-energy electrostatic charge.
Alesi Surgical managing director Dominic Griffiths said: "Commercially the US represents approximately fifty% of the global medical device market and so it is difficult to overstate the importance of this for the company."
The electrostatic precipitation process of the device involves the movement of its negatively charged gas ions towards the positively charged patient tissue in the abdominal cavity, resulting in a collision which clears the water vapour and particulate matter.
Griffiths added: “Gaining FDA approval for Ultravision allows us to continue the progress and development in the US market.
"This is the next step after launching our new Ultravision Trocar product in Europe which integrates the benefits of Ultravision into a pen-like access device, used in over seven million abdominal keyhole procedures performed annually, worldwide."
The system also reduces the amount of cold, dry carbon dioxide gas used to create a working space inside the abdomen during the keyhole procedure.
This aids in decreasing the post-surgical pain and enchanced recovery time for the patient, which are caused due to use of excessive carbon dioxide.
Alesi Surgical was established in 2009 as a spin out from the Welsh Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery.
