System acquired to enhance hospital’s lymphatic’s program

CALCI, Italy, August 10, 2021 – Medical Microinstruments (MMI) SpA, a robotics company dedicated to improving clinical outcomes for patients undergoing microsurgery, announced today the University Hospital Zurich (USZ), Division of Plastic and Hand Surgery, successfully completed its first case using the Symani® Surgical System. Prof. Nicole Lindenblatt, M.D. performed a lymph node transfer and lymphovenous anastomosis (LVA), a novel and challenging supermicrosurgical procedure intended to improve the patient’s lymphedema by allowing outflow of lymphatic fluid through residual lymphatic channels.

“Empowering surgeons with additional precision and dexterity through robotics has tremendous potential to evolve how effectively we treat a range of conditions,” said Mark Toland, Chief Executive Officer of MMI. “Prof. Lindenblatt’s procedure marks a milestone in improving treatment for lymphedema, a disease state with lengthy and burdensome effects on patients. As additional hospitals adopt the Symani Surgical System, supermicrosurgical techniques will offer patients new treatment possibilities that are too small to effectively address by hand.”

The University Hospital Zurich, the No. 2-ranked hospital in Switzerland and No. 12 hospital in the world according to a recent poll in Newsweek, installed the Symani Surgical System in July to enhance its lymphatic surgery program. About 250 million people in the world suffer from some form of lymphedema, which is characterized by excess lymphatic fluid causing swelling in the arms or legs.

The Symani Surgical System is designed to repair small anatomical structures such as blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic ducts that may be as small as 0.3mm in diameter. The Symani Surgical System has been shown to reduce the occurrence of thrombosis by 50 percent in preclinical studies by mitigating hand tremor and scaling movements up to 20X. The Symani Surgical System received CE mark in 2019 and is intended for free-flap reconstructions, replantations, congenital malformations, peripheral nerve repairs, lymphatic surgeries and more.

About MMI

Medical Microinstruments S.p.A. (MMI) was founded in 2015 near Pisa, Italy to enhance surgical performance through the development of a robotic system that enables surgeons to achieve better outcomes in microsurgery. The Symani Surgical System combines proprietary innovations including the world’s smallest wristed microinstruments as well as tremor reducing and motion-scaling technologies. Together, these powerful capabilities allow more surgeons to successfully perform microsurgery while expanding the field of supermicrosurgery. MMI is backed by international medtech investors including Andera Partners, Panakès Partners, Fountain Healthcare Partners and Sambatech.

About University Hospital Zurich

The University Hospital Zurich (USZ) is internationally renowned for its achievements in university medicine, nursing, research and teaching. More than 42,000 inpatients and over 600,000 outpatient consultations per year testify to the great trust placed in the USZ and its approximately 8,500 employees. Thanks to the interdisciplinary cooperation of more than 40 clinics and institutes as well as the proximity to the University and ETH Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich offers its patients the broad experience of its specialists and up-to-date therapies.