29 Jun 2023
Versius lands in Belgium as CMR expands European footprint
- The introduction of Versius at Sint-Franciscus Hospital marks the first installation in Benelux
- At the hospital, Versius is being used in a multispecialty programme including urology, gynaecology and abdominal surgery
CMR Surgical (CMR) – the global surgical robotics business – has today announced the launch of the next-generation surgical robotic system, Versius®, in Belgium. Sint-Franciscus Hospital – a regional public hospital in Heusden-Zolder – is the first Belgian hospital to install Versius, where it is being used as part of a multi-specialty programme to ensure more patients can access minimally invasive surgery.
Belgium benefits from a high-quality healthcare system and an advanced surgical robotics market. The introduction of Versius represents a significant opportunity to drive further access to innovative technologies across the country to improve patient outcomes and support the drive for value-based healthcare.
Versius is the only small and modular surgical robotic system on the market which makes it easy to adopt for surgeons and hospitals. By being small and modular, it can fit into virtually any operating room, enabling a wider range of hospitals to start a robotics programme. The modularity of Versius gives surgeons ease and flexibility to put the ports where surgeons want, and more importantly, are used to putting them, therefore making the system ideal to perform a versatile range of cases and integrate into existing workflows.
Steven Pans, Medical Director, Sint-Franciscus Hospital, comments: “We are proud to be the first hospital in Belgium to offer robotic surgery with Versius and are thrilled that several of our teams are using Versius across urology, gynaecology and abdominal surgery. One of the key reasons we decided to purchase Versius was the ability move the system between different departments and sites thanks to its modularity. This has also allowed us to seamlessly integrate the system into our existing operating rooms and workflows, with no changes needed to the infrastructure This has made the introduction of our first robotics programme extremely simple.”
Dr Kurt Dilen, Urologist at Sint-Franciscus Hospital adds: “With Versius, we want to ensure as many patients as possible can benefit from improved outcomes including quicker recovery and reduced pain that come with minimal access surgery. We are already seeing that this robotics programme has enabled us to drive significant efficiencies across the hospital. The modular nature of the design had enabled us to easily move the system between surgical teams across different specialties, maximising utilisation of the robot and allowing for more of our patients to receive minimal access surgery.”
Versius is part of a wider CMR digital ecosystem that collects data throughout surgical procedures, delivering a wealth of insights to surgeons and hospitals on their clinical practise. CMR is committed to working with healthcare partners across the Benelux market to support continuous surgeons’ learning and drive greater efficiencies in the healthcare system.
Patricia Chesnais, France and Benelux General Manager for CMR Surgical, comments: “We are delighted to have installed our first system in Benelux at Sint-Franciscus Hospital and to be working with the highly skilled teams there to bring benefits of minimal access surgery to more patients with Versius. Home to world-leading robotic training centre, ORSI, Belgium is an important robotics market, and this introduction is a significant milestone for CMR in the region as we continue to expand our footprint across Europe.”
This announcement follows the recent news that Versius has now been installed in over 100 hospitals globally, including Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.