Division of Surgical Technology

Masaaki Ito, Takahiro Kinoshita, Nobuyoshi Takeshita

Introduction

The main purpose of the Division of Surgical Technology is to develop surgical devices that are truly necessary, to deliver them to the clinical fields, and to prove their efficacy and safety through clinical trials.

The three main elements of our innovation are creating devices reflecting true needs in the medical field, practicing with the devices in clinical trials, and connecting our innovations to a wider world.

We have collaborated with clinical surgeons and engineers in the NEXT Innovating Group. We have continued to clarify problem points in previously developed Japanese medical devices and focused on innovation plans and partnerships formed with various companies.

Now we are going to establish a clinical supportive team for early-phased surgical innovations and aim to make a road-map for surgical innovation.

Research activities

1.Establishment of the NEXT Conference

We started discussions to make innovative surgical devices in the NEXT Conference, which was jointly held by professionals consisting of surgeons and coordinators of surgical innovation, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical affairs. Specific devices started to be created through discussions in the NEXT Conference.

2.Surgical robotic system innovated by the National Cancer Center (NCC)-certified venture company, A-Traction Inc.

A-Traction Inc. was established in August 2015 to innovate new surgical robotic systems.

This venture company received a major investment from MedVenture Partners, Inc. and was certified as a collaborative company with the National Cancer Center (NCC).

3.Activity of regional cooperation group for surgical innovation, C-Square

We established a regional cooperation group for surgical innovation with a framework that consisted of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba Industry Advancement Center, Chiba University, and the National Cancer Center Hospital (NCCH). The aim of the activities of C-Square is to realize surgical innovation based on clinical needs through the use of regional industrial technology. The development of certain new surgical devices began through annual symposiums held in C-square.

Clinical trials

1.Create supportive infrastructure for surgical innovation

We are aiming to establish a clinical trial infrastructure for surgical innovation in the National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCHE). Surgical clinical trials about our established devices were planned in 2016 and will start from 2017.

Education

We held regular in-house seminars to teach about surgical innovations for the development of human resources.

Future prospects

We are going to establish a clinical support team for early-phase surgical innovations and aim to make a road-map for surgical innovation.