Intuitive has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the da Vinci 5 system for certain cardiac procedures, including mitral valve repair and internal mammary artery (IMA) mobilisation for cardiac revascularisation.
“Opening the chest to perform surgical procedures can involve significant pain, high risk of complications, and long recovery times that can affect patients’ physical and psychological wellbeing,” said Intuitive chief executive officer Dave Rosa. “This clearance reflects our commitment to advancing minimally invasive cardiac surgery so more surgeons and care teams can pursue improved outcomes for their patients.”
Cardiac surgery was the first specialty cleared on the original da Vinci System in 2002. Since then, more than 140,000 robotic-assisted cardiac procedures have been performed using da Vinci systems across 51 countries, the company says in a press release.
While early milestones demonstrated clinical potential, a combination of technical limitations of first‑generation platforms and the absence of a global training and support infrastructure led Intuitive to shift its primary focus away from cardiac surgery. Today, with those barriers addressed and a mature ecosystem in place, minimally invasive cardiac surgery is positioned for meaningful expansion with da Vinci 5, the company states.
The design of da Vinci 5 can support minimally invasive cardiac procedures by enabling surgeons to operate through small incisions without opening the breastbone.
“Da Vinci 5 marks the beginning of a global initiative to help transform cardiac care,” said Intuitive’s global vice president of cardiac Darla Hutton. “By combining 30 years of meaningful innovation, structured team-based training programs and a service model built on reliability and safety, we believe we can enable cardiac teams to adopt robotic-assisted surgery in a consistent, scalable and sustainable way.”
To support adoption of cardiac surgery with da Vinci 5, Intuitive has established a dedicated team focused on building infrastructure, including the development of bespoke training programmes, clinical evidence generation, and cardiac-specific instruments and accessories. A limited number of US sites will begin working with Intuitive through 2026 to establish da Vinci 5 cardiac programmes.
Da Vinci 5 is now indicated for the following selected thoracoscopically-assisted cardiac surgical procedures using non-force feedback instruments: mitral valve repair, IMA mobilisation for cardiac revascularisation, patent foramen ovale closure, atrial septal defect repair, left atrial appendage closure/occlusion, atrial myxoma excision, mitral valve replacement, tricuspid valve repair, and epicardial pacing lead placement.
