Virtuoso Surgical has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant of up to $2.0 million from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, to expand the use of the Virtuoso system to minimally invasive hysteroscopic removal of uterine fibroids. The two year award, made on September 1, 2026, supports the project titled “A Robot to Enable Broad Deployment of the Least Invasive Uterine Fibroid Surgical Intervention.”
The award was made directly at the Phase II stage, without a preceding Phase I grant, reflecting the feasibility work Virtuoso and its collaborators have already completed in gynecology.
More than two thirds of women will have fibroids in their lifetimes, and many will need surgery. Fibroids can often be removed safely and effectively through a hysteroscope, without any incisions, but the procedure is difficult enough that today only a small number of highly specialized surgeons can perform it. As a result, only about one in ten women are able to benefit from a minimally invasive hysteroscopic approach, and nearly 90,000 women each year undergo hysterectomy for fibroids, often with lifelong consequences.
The award builds on earlier work with the Virtuoso system in gynecology, including ex vivo uterine surgery experiments conducted with Drs. Harvey and Anderson and published in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology. It also extends the core technology being studied for bladder tumor removal in the VIABLE trial into women’s health.
Research reported in this announcement is supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44EB038843. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The Virtuoso system is investigational and has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory body for any use.
About Virtuoso Surgical
Virtuoso Surgical has developed a new class of robotic surgery system designed to improve minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. The Virtuoso system features a pair of needle sized instrument arms made of concentric nitinol tubes that mimic a surgeon’s hand motions, providing control and dexterity at the tip of a rigid endoscope. The system uses patented technology initially developed by Virtuoso’s founders at Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. For additional information, visit www.virtuososurgical.net.