AllThingsD » transplant

All I Want for Christmas Is My Robot Hair Transplant

Lauren Goode — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:26:03 +0000

For two years, a privately held, Mountain View-based company called Restoration Robotics went through clinical trials while awaiting clearance from the FDA. Its product: A high-tech robot that performs hair-transplant procedures.

Now the machine, called Artas, is finally making its way into physicians’ offices across the U.S.

The Artas robot works by automating the relatively new procedure of follicular unit extraction, in which individual hair follicles are taken from the back and sides of the head, after which the grafts are then implanted into the area of baldness. A traditional hair transplant would involve more invasive incisions and the manual application of the grafts to a patient’s head. With a robot, some doctors say, the procedure is more precise, and removes the element of human error.

Restoration Robotics and others credit a Denver-based physician, Dr. James Harris, for making many of the advances that lead to the robotic hair-transplant device.

For physicians, the Artas machine involves an initial investment of around $200,000. Staff training sessions, which are led by Restoration Robotics, can take up to five weeks.

For patients, the cost can vary. The fee for the robotic-assisted procedure is usually around $10 a graft. Insurance companies may cover the procedure in the event that it’s reconstructive. Dr. Bernstein says the bulk of his practice is cosmetic cases, but notes that he often won’t charge patients that have hair loss due to trauma, burns or chemotherapy.

The Artas hair-transplant procedure can take up to eight hours. It’s generally done in one session, but a less-intensive follow-up procedure could also be required later on.

Doctors say it’s not dramatically faster than the traditional methods used in hair transplants, but it takes the human-error element out of the procedure. Surgeons can tire during a long procedure, during which thousands of hair follicles are replaced. They may be forced to take breaks and, naturally, are susceptible to error.

Dr. Bernstein also notes that, as is commonly the case with the introduction of automated machinery, having the Artas robotic system in his office means he can complete the same number of procedures, or more, with a leaner staff.

Currently there are four Artas systems in place across the U.S. — one in New York, another in Denver, and two in Los Angeles — and Restoration Robotics CEO Jim McCollum says the company is expecting to sell even more robots in the new year. He believes there’s potential for this to be a game-changing technology and also said there may be a market for Artas that focuses more on female patients, as well.

Restoration Robotics was founded in 2002; in 2007, the company raised $25 million from InterWest Partners, Alloy Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. After Artas was cleared by the FDA in April of this year, the company secured $41 million in Series C funding from Clarus Ventures and other early investors, as discussed on The Wall Street Journal’s “Digits” show earlier this year.

Video: Mossberg and Patches Opine About AppleFest 2009 at the ATD Annual BBQ

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:33:30 +0000

Here’s a lovely video BoomTown did last night at our All Things Digital annual BBQ, at which the crackerjack team at our little rogue operation inside Dow Jones goes analog.

As a completely virtual company, it’s nice to get together to gnaw on some ribs and trade tech tales.

Last night, of course, much of the chatter was about what went down at the Apple event in San Francisco yesterday, at which CEO and Supreme Leader Steve Jobs made a grand reappearance onstage after a liver transplant.

“I’m vertical, back at Apple and loving every day of it,” declared Jobs, before introducing a variety of new features and software innovations to the company’s already strong repertoire, most specifically for iTunes and iPods.

(I guess some still stubbornly self-righteous bloggers were a little premature with their hysterical death’s-door assertions about the Silicon Valley icon and business-challenged certainty that Apple would wither too.)

Overall, from reading the coverage about the Apple (AAPL) gathering, the Jobs performance sounded kind of dramatic, even if there was no launch of a new device, such as the coming-up-next mystery iTablet.

Both Walt Mossberg and Digital Daily’s John “Patches” Paczkowski were at the event, along with Mossberg Solution’s Katherine Boehret and our Webmaster, master photog and Newton fanboy, Adam Tow (see his amazing images of the confab here).

(Walt actually punked me at the BBQ by pretending he actually had a demo of the alleged Apple tablet in his bag–at which I almost lunged like a lunatic–when he had no such thing. Ha. Ha.)

In any case, here’s their frank ruminations on what went down–not too much new, really, but still interesting, as always, from Apple.

And, separately, after the Apple event was over, Patches went to a meeting with Palm (PALM) to take a gander at the new Pixi smart phone and gives his first thoughts on that too.

Here’s the video interview:

[ See post to watch video ]

Hospital Confirms Apple CEO's Liver Transplant

John Paczkowski — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:28:05 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Hospital Confirms Apple CEO's Liver Transplant

John Paczkowski — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:28:05 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Report: Steve Jobs Is Recovering From Liver Transplant, Still Coming Back to Apple

Peter Kafka — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:02:22 +0000

The Steve Jobs health story takes yet another twist, this time a happier one: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Apple CEO underwent a liver transplant earlier this spring and is recovering from the operation.

Jobs, who stepped away from day-to-day management of his company in January, is still expected to return to work later this month, the Journal said.

The transplant, which the Journal says Jobs received “about two months ago,” may be related to a form of pancreatic cancer that the Apple (AAPL) CEO has been living with since 2003. In 2005, Jobs declared that he was “fine,” but the state of his health, or lack thereof, has been the subject of recurring speculation for years.

That reached a fever pitch during the past 12 months, spurred on by his unusually gaunt appearance at Apple’s 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple officials originally said Jobs was suffering from a “common bug.”

In January, following Jobs’s announcement that he was receiving treatment for a “nutritional problem” stemming from a hormonal imbalance, Bloomberg reported that he was considering a liver transplant.

Jobs’s response: “Why don’t you guys leave me alone–why is this important?”

The Journal says that Jobs, who was supposed to come back to work full-time by the end of this month, may ease into the role and that COO Tim Cook, who has been running the company day to day in his absence, may get more responsibility.

But the paper also says Jobs has been back to the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters:

“During his leave, Mr. Jobs has remained involved in key aspects of the company and reviewed products and product plans from home. He has also been seen at Apple’s headquarters, according to people who have seen him there.”

Jobs's Transplant Highlights Differing Wait Times

Laura Meckler — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:01:04 +0000

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs’s decision to travel to Tennessee for a liver highlights the significant disparities in transplant waiting times across the country–the source of a longstanding controversy over the fairest way to distribute scarce organs.

For liver transplants, the wait is particularly agonizing. Kidney replacements can often be put off for years through dialysis, where a machine does the work of the kidneys. But there is no such treatment for liver disease.

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