‘Revo-i is expected to hit market by end of year’
Lee Woo-jung
Professor in Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine
Lee Woo-jung, the first Korean doctor to perform surgery with a robot in 2005, participated in developing surgical robots, including the country’s first from tech firm Meerecompany. He has also helped set up training systems for doctors who want to learn how to use surgical robots.
Over the past few years, surgical robots have challenged the conventional concept of surgery. With their greater precision and visualization, their role in the field of medicine will continue to grow in the coming decades. Yonsei University College of Medicine Professor Lee Woo-jung believes Korea needs to be a part of that future. Since 2007, he has been developing a surgical robot in collaboration with tech firm Meerecompany. “Now, the first Korea-made surgical robot is expected to hit the domestic market by the end of 2016,” he said in an interview. “The device has been proven safe and effective through animal testing. Its human testing, which will start in May, is expected to finish in six months with positive outcomes.” Despite the enormous global market growth and profit potential of surgical robots, California-based Intuitive Surgical, established in 1995 and maker of the renowned da Vinci Surgical System, is still the only player in the market. More than 3,500 da Vinci systems are installed in hospitals across the world, including 53 systems in Korea. Meanwhile, more than 3 million procedures have been performed with the system globally. In Korea, the number surged to 8,840 procedures in 2014 from only 17 in 2005, when the machine was introduced to the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The robot is expensive, about $2 million each on average price. Without any competitors, Intuitive Surgical has no reason to keep the price low. But Lee believes the firm’s almost unassailable market position will soon be disrupted. “With almost same performance (as the da Vinci system), our robot, Revo-i, will cost only about one-third,” he said. Revo-i’s basic functions are similar to the American surgical system, but Lee said there will be few patent issues because most of Intuitive Surgical’s core technologies were invented a long time ago and their patents have been expired. “It is important to understand that surgical techniques themselves cannot be patented. They are encouraged to be shared to treat and save more patients. What may be subject to patent protection are just the technologies that help doctors practice certain techniques,” he said. “If you think about the technologies needed for surgical robots, many of them were invented a long while ago, as far back as the 1920s.” Although it may be difficult to sell Revo-i to the United States upon its launch owning to possible patent issues, it won’t be so in Korea and most Asian countries, Lee said. His plan is to market the robot starting from the East and expand to the West.
Robotic surgery training center
With better visualization, dexterity and stability, robots enable doctors to do things they previously couldn’t do. But the success of a procedure still rests on how well the surgeon controls the machine, which is why training is very important. However, doctors in Korea, as in many other countries, are not legally required to receive training for using surgical robots, so some doctors use the robots even when they are not yet ready. After some tragic incidents involving doctors untrained to use robots, the future of robotic surgery in the country was once bleak. Lee, the first Korean doctor to perform surgery with a robot at Severance Hospital in 2005, thought it would be critical to set up a reliable training system for doctors. “In 2008, the hospital opened Korea’s first training center, where doctors can learn about da Vinci robots,” he said. “I had to fly to the headquarters of Intuitive Surgical in California to get training. But thanks to the center, doing so has now become unnecessary.” Since then, Severance Hospital, which is affiliated with Yonsei University College of Medicine, has cemented its position as the hub for those who want to receive robotic surgery and those who want to learn it. Over the past decade, about 14,000 patients have received robotic surgery there, the highest for any hospital in Korea. Also, many doctors, including about 500 from other countries, have received training at its center. “Technology is rapidly changing the medical environment. For doctors, this means having different knowledge and skills. They need to learn more about engineering, which is getting more important. Otherwise, they may become irrelevant in the future,” Lee said.
A geeky boy who loved machines
Lee has been given honorable titles that many doctors would want, but he said they are merely the results of his geeky passions. “I never sacrificed my time or effort for such titles. I was just doing what I loved, and I still am,” he said. His passion for engineering started as a young boy. “I liked machines a lot. From cameras to radios, they were my toys,” he said. But after suffering tuberculosis, he changed his dream to become a doctor from an engineer. But even after entering Yonsei University College of Medicine, his interest in engineering did not waver. While studying medicine at school, he learned how to fix televisions and radios at a private academy in 1979. Lee was an early adopter and liked to try new things. In 1983, when few Koreans knew what “computer” meant, he paid 2.8 million won ($2,500) for an Apple Computer. “With that amount of money, I could have bought a decent used car at that time,” he said. So when everyone else used papers and pens to write their articles for medical journals, he used the computer. This risk-taking spirit earned him another unofficial title — Korea’s first doctor to write a journal article with a computer. He also chose to specialize in pancreatic cancer because “no one else wanted it.” It was no surprise that he was also fascinated by the concept of minimally invasive surgery using a laparoscope in the early 1990s, when the new method was introduced to Korea. “I knew this was something I had to do, and I was so excited. I kept thinking about it day and night,” Lee said. “I tried the method not just with pancreatic surgery but also with stomach surgery, appendectomy and many other areas.” When the hospital brought in surgical robots, he had an opportunity to use it first. The media coverage was very positive, and everyone said he would make a great career in the field. But he never tried to monopolize the field. Instead, he encouraged other doctors to try the new technologies and shared his know-how with them. A total of 2,000 patients receive robotic surgery at the hospital every year, but he performs surgery on only about 150 of them. “My motto is to have fun,” he said. “For me, one of the biggest pleasures in life is to teach my students and see them grow beyond what I’m capable of. I want to help them and have fun.”