Letter: Microsurgical Clipping of an Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm Using a Novel Robotic Visualization Tool in Lieu of the Binocular Operating Microscope: Operative Video

Abstract

To the Editor: We would like to congratulate the authors on their recent publication of an operative video in Operative Neurosurgery on the microsurgical clipping of an anterior communication artery aneurysm using a robotic visualization tool.1 The authors describe their clinical experience with a robotic exoscope referred to as the BrightMatter TM Servo System (Synaptive Medical, Toronto, Ontario).1 Note that the utilization of this system can offer an alternative to the conventional surgical microscope. However, the authors do remark that to the best of their knowledge, “the use of this device for the microsurgical clipping of an intracranial aneurysm has never been described in the literature.” We would like to bring to their attention a publication (abstract) in PubMed published in August of 2016, describing the use of this technology in repairing 6 intracranial aneurysms over the previous year.2 We suspect the authors likely may have just inadvertently not found the previous publication (August 2016) reference describing the application of this technology in aneurysm surgery in their search. In addition, a subsequent larger series of broader applications in intracranial surgery, including aneurysms, was published in May of 2017.3 We would be appreciative if the authors, in any way, could acknowledge the previous work. Again, we would like to congratulate the authors for their work in documenting the application of this technology. Disclosures Dr Kassam has the following disclosures: (1) Synaptive Medical (consultant), (2) KLS Martin (consultant), and (3) Medtronic Medical (advisory board). The other authors have no personal, financial, or institutional interest in any of the drugs, materials, or devices described in this article.