RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – An upcoming episode of the critically acclaimed daytime TV talk show, “The Doctors,” will feature an innovative minimally invasive surgical platform developed by TransEnterix, a medical device company headquartered in North Carolina.

The show will air Friday, Nov. 5. “The Doctors” – which features practicing physicians discussing topical health and medical issues in an easy-to-understand, conversational manner – reaches millions of viewers and just picked up its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in the informative category.

During the Nov. 5 episode, the doctors examine new medical advances including the TransEnterix SPIDER® Surgical System, which enables a surgeon to operate through a patient’s belly button. This approach is especially relevant in weight-loss procedures wherein minimal pain, a quick return to normal activity and an attractive cosmetic result are important to patients.

“The TransEnterix SPIDER Surgical System has the potential to transform surgery in ways that will benefit patients, surgeons and hospitals,” said Luke M. Roush, vice president of global marketing. “It is gratifying that the physicians on ‘The Doctors’ appreciate this innovation in surgery and are proactively sharing information about the SPIDER system, which reduces invasiveness and improves appearance to make weight-loss surgery scars nearly invisible.”

During the episode, bariatric surgeon Dr. Brian B. Quebbemann is shown using the SPIDER system to perform a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, a type of weight-loss surgery that reduces the size of a patient’s stomach. Before the SPIDER system, surgeons who performed this procedure relied on conventional laparoscopic techniques and equipment that required them making up to five separate incisions in the patient’s abdomen. Quebbemann, the surgical director of The N.E.W. Program in Newport Beach, Calif., was the first to perform a vertical sleeve gastrectomy using the SPIDER system.

About the SPIDER Surgical System
The SPIDER Surgical System is unlike any other belly button surgical platform on the market – in fact, it addresses challenges that surgeons encountered using other, first generation belly button platforms.

Using the SPIDER system, the surgeon makes a small incision in the patient’s belly button and inserts the device through it. The surgeon opens the system like an umbrella and performs the procedure. When finished, he closes the system and removes it through the same incision.

And the SPIDER system offers unique flexible instruments that enable surgeons to operate at angles similar to those experienced in traditional laparoscopic surgery. The SPIDER system’s 360-degree-rotating instruments enhance a surgeon’s access and dexterity.

The SPIDER system’s expansion capability and flexible instrumentation are proprietary technologies created by TransEnterix and are not available in other systems on the market. Since the SPIDER system was released in March, surgeons have used it to successfully treat colon cancer, repair hernias, remove kidneys and gallbladders, apply gastric bands, and perform gastric sleeve procedures. To see how the SPIDER works, visit http://www.spidersurgery.com

About TransEnterix
TransEnterix partners with leading medical thought-leaders to rapidly develop pioneering technologies that advance minimally invasive surgery. Having received regulatory clearance, TransEnterix is commercializing its operations and marketing the SPIDER Surgical System in the United States and Europe. Since its start in 2006, the company has secured $75 million in venture capital funding.

NOTE TO MEDIA: B-roll videotape, B-roll animation and high-resolution photos of the SPIDER system are available. To request art or to arrange an interview with a participating surgeon or TransEnterix official, contact Karen Stinneford at 919.833.9102 or 919.815.5508.