An interdisciplinary team with members forming part of the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering has been awarded the 2020 Intellectual Property Award for Scientific Initiative in addition to being recognised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The medical research team members came up with the novel surgical procedure while the engineering team designed and prototyped the novel surgical tool facilitating this surgery.

This novel surgical procedure eliminates the need to use carbon dioxide insufflation for the trans-oral endoscopic approach to thyroid surgery (TOETVA) therefore eliminating the cosmetic consequences and also related complications including gas embolism. 

The novel endoscopic surgical tool developed thus enables a gasless surgical intervention to take place, meaning that patients undergoing thyroid surgery through TOETVA can avoid the visible scar in the neck while benefiting from an improved safety profile.

The interdisciplinary team consisted of Dr Christian Camenzuli, Prof. Pierre Schembri Wismayer, Prof. Jean Calleja Agius, Prof. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg, Ing. John Paul Borg and Josef Attard.