Lazurite
Setting up Wireless Arthroscopy

There have been countless stories of inventions and discoveries across the globe that are driven by a demand for new products and solutions to improve and simplify the lives of the people. From the invention of the first medical thermometer to cardiac pacemakers, CT Scanners and MRI, and many more; the healthcare landscape is dotted with many inventions that stemmed from stark necessity. Adding to this collection of unique stories is the tale of a game-changing surgical camera system, ArthroFree, which aims to meet the needs of the surgeons and staff within the operating rooms. After witnessing a serious accident in an operating room where one of the staff tripped over the surgical camera wires and seriously injured herself, Eugene Malinskiy—a visionary and enthusiast of technology—was driven to invent a wireless surgical camera system. This idea laid the foundations for the US-based company Lazurite, a surgeon-focused, patient-dedicated healthcare and innovations startup, to unveil its wireless arthroscopic camera system.

For the last three decades, surgeons and physicians have been relying on cameras connected to a monitor with wires. Eugene Malinskiy, Co-founder and CEO of Lazurite, notes “The arthroscopy space still relies on wired camera systems for surgeries, and we’ve developed and gained market approval for a wireless surgical camera system that eliminates the need for cables, allowing surgeons to perform their best in the operating rooms.”Though the image resolutions and tool technologies have improved, it has been nearly impossible to discover a modified procedure of camera insertion into the patient’s body to eliminate the need for light and video cables. However, Lazurite’s first product – the ArthroFree Wireless Surgical Camera System -- tackles this challenge head-on and has the potential to transform traditional operating rooms into simplified, wireless ecosystems.

The company has developed its first product, called the ArthroFree system, a wireless surgical camera system that helps add value to healthcare by increasing the efficiency and safety in an operating room. The system combines Lazurite’s proprietary light source, Meridiem Light Engine, and camera technologies to eliminate the need for video and light cables. Hence, surgeons can now overcome the hassles of working in messy wired setups.

ArthroFree assists in reducing the number of trips and falls and eliminates the possibility of fire outbreaks in the operating rooms caused by poor cable management. The system is light, easy to handle, and easy to sterilize, thereby lowering the chances of infections for the patients.

Additionally, ArthroFree makes the setup and breakdown procedures simpler with low maintenance costs, which helps in reducing the overall cost of performing a surgery.

Lazurite has been working with surgeons through every step of their operations to continually evolve and improve the design of the ArthroFree system. As such, they aim to continue to introduce additional device prototypes that are more efficient and beneficial to healthcare providers. The company functions in a cycle, starting with identifying the requirements of surgeons, followed by development and modification of the device to fit their needs better, and consequently re-approaching the surgeons for their valuable feedback. As a startup, Lazurite has greater freedom to invest in its product, making it possible to spend the research and development funds flexibly to create future devices. This factor helps them rely more on internal innovation rather than mergers and acquisitions, as is often the case for the bigger industry players and provides Lazurite an edge over its contemporaries in the industry.

The company, thus far, has executed multiple human factor studies and is currently working in numerous locations to aggregate data on clinicians’ and OR staff’s interactions with ArthroFree. The surveys render insightful data on the healthcare service providers’ experiences that have indicated high success rates and encouraged them to conduct multiple comparative studies. These studies include analyses on time consumption and surgical images acquired during a laparoscopic procedure in the case of ArthroFree, compared to the traditional camera systems in the current standard of care. Besides, Lazurite is looking forward to a capstone study to evaluate the comparative efficiency of their device with patients in live surgical scenarios with different clients and environments: including general ASC operating rooms, specific ASCs for sports medicine, and more. Further, the company is keen on expanding its engineering team and other internal staff and boosting the overall sales. With internal expansion and expected FDA approval, Lazurite is set to introduce additional products related to its rich pipeline to deliver better care and greater outcomes for patients and clinicians.