Robotic-assisted superficial temporal artery-to-middle cerebral artery anastomosis

Robotic-assisted surgery is becoming more prevalent and accepted in the USA and is routine in many medical centers across a variety of specialties, but mainly in urology and general surgery. However, neurosurgery has yet to embrace this new technology. We used the da Vinci(®) robot (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, California) to perform a robotic-assisted superficial temporal artery-to-middle cerebral artery bypass on a cadaveric head. The object of this technical note is to describe the use of the da Vinci(®) robot to perform an extracranial-intracranial bypass. Using a cadaveric human head, the da Vinci(®) robot was successfully used to anastomose the superficial temporal artery to an M2 branch of the middle cerebral artery. We were successfully able to demonstrate the utility of using the da Vinci(®) robot in extracranial to intracranial anastomosis in a cadaveric head. The optics were excellent and physiologic tremor was eliminated. More studies are needed to assess the feasibility, safety, and utility of this device in living tissue within the field of neurosurgery.