# A New Robot to Replace Hysterectomies with Minimally Invasive Uterine-Sparing Interventions

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $517,176

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
The objective of this proposal is to create a new surgical robot to enable women who currently face the life-
long consequences of hysterectomy to have minimally invasive, uterine-sparing interventions. The robot will
deliver needle-sized instruments through an endoscope, enabling independent tissue manipulation, electrosur-
gical probe movement, and visualization, facilitating more precise, accurate, and efficient intrauterine surgery.
Clinical significance comes from the fact that over 50,000 women per year will lose their uterus to fibroids
that elite surgeons have demonstrated can be removed endoscopically. Instrument dexterity limitations prevent
typical surgeons from offering uterine-sparing endoscopy to these women. This results in only 1 in 10 women
benefiting from the minimally invasive endoscopic approach while 2 in 3 face the lifelong negative consequences
of hysterectomy.
Our innovation is to provide the surgeon with two miniature robotic instruments delivered through the endo-
scope, to enhance dexterity and enable two-handed retraction and resection. These instruments are made
from telescoping, curved, elastic tubes. By axially rotating and telescopically extending the tubes, our robot
will provide the surgeon with two tentacle-like instruments small enough to be delivered through standard-sized
endoscopes. These instruments, combined with a variable view angle optic, will enable lateral dexterity and
visualization, countertraction, and accurate and efficient tissue resection.
Our approach consists of three Specific Aims. Aim 1 addresses the design of our new instruments, in con-
junction with the variable view angles provided by our optic, and endowing them with bipolar electrosurgery
capability. Aim 2 focuses on the design of a novel touchscreen-based user interface that enables the surgeon to
simultaneously control the endoscope and the instruments delivered through it. Aim 3 consists of ex vivo and in
vivo animal studies to demonstrate the robot’s ability to reach everywhere in the uterus, to enable surgeons to
perform the procedure who otherwise could not, and to resect FIGO type 0, 1, and 2 fibroids of various sizes from
all relevant locations (the fundal, anterior, posterior, lateral-left, and lateral-right zones) of the uterus efficiently.
The endpoint of this R01 is a device that has been fully validated in established clinical training scenarios and
live animals, setting the stage for clinical translation after the successful completion of this R01.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10858816
- **Project number:** 1R01EB035591-01
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert James Webster
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $517,176
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-05-08 → 2028-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10858816

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10858816, A New Robot to Replace Hysterectomies with Minimally Invasive Uterine-Sparing Interventions (1R01EB035591-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10858816. Licensed CC0.

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