Startup Surgical Theater is developing personalized surgery simulation software that loads medical images of patients to help doctors rehearse tomorrow’s surgery today.
The Cleveland-area company was started by two former Israeli Air Force officers with extensive experience developing flight-simulation technology, as well as a surgeon with University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UH).
“What’s unique about these guys is that they understand the importance of rehearsing exactly what you’re going to do the next day,” Warren Selman, chairman of UH’s neurological surgery department, said of the Surgical Theater’s founders. Selman is helping the company develop its simulators.
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One of the key differences between Surgical Theater’s simulator and some other simulation technology on the market is its patient-specific nature, said president and cofounder Moty Avisar. That is, images of a particular patient — such as MRIs or CTs — can be loaded into the simulator, allowing the surgeon to see a near-exact replica of what she’d see when operating on that particular patient.
When using the simulator, a doctor grasps and manipulates the same type of tool she’d use during the operation, but in this case, the tool is a model that enables interaction with the medical images the doctor is seeing on the simulator’s screen. “To achieve the level of immersion we want to achieve, we need the same exact tools,” Avisar said.
Another differentiator is that Surgical Theater plans to focus on simulating higher-risk, open surgeries as opposed to endoscopic procedures, for example — meaning its simulators should have a higher value to experienced surgeons. Its first product will train physicians on how to perform brain aneurysm surgeries, which Selman describes as “one of the most technically complex procedures a neurosurgeon does.”
Of course, Surgical Theater isn’t the only company to jump into the patient-specific simulation space. Simbionix in 2010 received regulatory clearance for patient-specific simulation software, and another company, Immersive Touch, has said it “seeks to become a leading provider” in the space.
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Surgical Theater is planning to launch its first simulator in the first half of 2012, with the aim of selling to medical education institutions’ residency programs. The company is also looking to begin a clinical trial next year, with the goal of illustrating better clinical outcomes from its technology.
Surgical Theater has thus far largely been funded by angels, but received a boost recently when it was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Innovation Fund of the Lorain County Community College Foundation. The company is targeting a series A round of “a few million dollars” next year to expand its sales and market reach, Avisar said.
In the video below, Selman discusses and demonstrates Surgical Theater’s technology.