Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Nicola Santelmo is a pioneering thoracic surgeon whose work centers on advancing robotic-assisted surgical techniques, particularly for treating myasthenia gravis and refining training protocols in minimally invasive thoracic surgery. His major contributions include leading the Delphi process that established the Thoracic Robotic Curriculum, a landmark framework designed to standardize training and ensure patient safety as robotic procedures proliferate (50 citations). Santelmo has also conducted pivotal comparative studies, demonstrating the efficacy of robotic-assisted thymectomy over traditional sternotomy for non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis, with early results and national database analyses from the French EPITHOR registry (24 and 19 citations, respectively). His innovative spirit extends to preclinical feasibility studies, where he successfully explored robotic harvest of intercostal and phrenic nerves in pig models (16 and 15 citations), laying groundwork for future nerve-sparing surgeries. Through these efforts, Santelmo has not only advanced surgical practice but also shaped the educational standards for a new generation of robotic thoracic surgeons, making him a key figure in the field’s evolution toward safer, more precise interventions.