Harbin, China --- Professor Lishan Xu and his team of the Oncological Surgery and Hepatobiliary Surgery of the Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University completed the robot-assisted hepatectomy on January 12, 2022 with Toumai^® Laparoscopic Surgical Robot (Toumai^®) independently developed by Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. (MicroPort^® MedBot^®). This is the first hepatectomy performed by Chinese-developed surgical robot in Northeast China. It is another high-difficulty hepatobiliary surgery completed by Professor Lishan Xu by using Toumai^® after the robot-assisted choledochoscopic cholecystectomy and choledocholithotomy.

 Professor Lishan Xu made the post-operative comment, saying: "The Chinese-developed surgical robot has entered a stage of rapid development. Toumai^® performs very well in stability and precision, and can be used in cooperation with a variety of surgical instruments to meet different surgical requirements of hepatobiliary surgery. The diagnosis and treatment level of hepatobiliary surgery in China will be qualitatively improved in the future with the development of Chinese-developed surgical robots.”

As the largest parenchymal organ of the human body, the liver has a dual blood supply system of hepatic artery and portal vein, which has the characteristics of large blood flow, complex anatomical structure, high difficulty and risk in operation. Compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery, Toumai® has overwhelmed the limitations of low range of motion, long learning curve and hand tremor. Its high-power three-dimensional operation field of vision ensures the accurate exposure of lesions, and multi-degree-of-freedom simulated wrist can complete the grasping, upward and downward movement, rotation, leftward and rightward movements, etc., and can filter out the shaking of human hands, so that surgeons can complete fine and precise operations within a narrow anatomical area. With the support of hepatobiliary surgery experts, Toumai^® will continue to promote the development of minimal-invasive hepatobiliary surgery.