Interventional News: MARS Exploration
By Rebekah Moan
Radiology Today
Vol. 26 No. 7 P. 8
Using Magnets to Make Surgery Less Invasive
Surgery by its very nature is invasive, but what if it could be less so? That was the guiding question behind the founding of Levita Magnetics. Alberto Rodriguez- Navarro, MD, the president, CEO, and founder of the company, started his career as a laparoscopic surgeon in Chile. He eventually brushed up against his limitations as a surgeon, noticing there was only so much he could do. Simultaneously, he wanted to make surgery more efficient and less invasive.
Rodriguez-Navarro kept circling the idea of a machine to support those goals, partially inspired by his father, who is a mechanical engineer. What if he used a magnet? From there, Rodriguez-Navarro and his team spent years developing the Magnetic-Assisted Robotic Surgery (MARS) System, which is FDA-cleared and uses magnets to retract organs and soft tissue. The system includes two surgeon-controlled robotic arms. One arm holds and operates the magnetic controller, while the other holds and controls an endoscope with a camera for visualization inside a patient. Essentially, the MARS system allows surgeons greater access and visualization once they’re inside the body.
In traditional surgery, the physician makes three or four cuts. And to move organs aside—for example, in the case of gallbladder surgery—they often manually force aside the organs using instruments. “They use an instrument like a chopstick to move organs,” Rodriguez-Navarro says.
With the MARS system, physicians make a small incision or two in the patient and place a magnet inside, which is then attached to an organ. The internal magnets come in two models for abdominal surgery, approximately 6.5 cm and 12.5 cm. This internal magnet, or “grasper,” has a spring and self-attaches to the organ. Its force grabs but doesn’t puncture the organ so it balances grasping without damage. An external magnet then moves the grasper— and organ(s)—into position.
“It took years to develop something that works,” Rodriguez-Navarro says. “Many people thought magnets made sense, but the challenge was making a tool that works in the real world. A magnet has a very elegant way that enables the surgeon to do a procedure with fewer incisions without compromising their capabilities.”
Clinical Use
Levita Magnetics first deployed MARS in October 2023 at the Cleveland Clinic. The first international deployment was in December 2023 at Hospital Luis Tisne in Santiago, Chile. In March 2024, surgeons in Chile used MARS and an augmented reality headset to perform an augmented reality abdominal surgery, which paved the way for AI-enhanced digital surgery and global telesurgery. From there, a month later, MARS expanded beyond public and academic medical centers with its first deployment at a private hospital in Texas, where Chad Carlton, MD, FACS, FASMBS, DABSFPMBS, successfully performed both a gastric bypass and a sleeve gastrectomy on the same day, demonstrating the system’s versatility in routine clinical practice.
Then, in November 2024, for the first time, the MARS System was used alongside the Da Vinci Single Port Robotic System, combining magnetic-assisted and robotic technologies to enhance surgical precision and expand the possibilities of minimally invasive care.
More recently, in July 2025, Levita celebrated a milestone: surgeons successfully completed more than 1,000 procedures using its MARS system. The 1,000th procedure was performed by Brian Ruhle, MD, MS, a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, who used the system to conduct a gastric bypass. He retracted the liver magnetically to enhance visualization and minimize invasiveness.
“The MARS System is a true enhancement of laparoscopic surgery that provides greater visual control and expands our operative capability, creating opportunities for enhanced efficiency in the [operating room],” Ruhle says. “I believe this technology offers benefits for both straightforward and more complex laparoscopic operations.”
IR Applications
MARS has helped in a range of surgeries, including bariatric, colorectal, cholecystectomy, prostatectomy, and hiatal hernia procedures. However, the company sees potential applications in pediatrics, colorectal surgery, urology, thoracic surgery, and, eventually, whole-body applications including head and neck procedures.
While MARS may not be useful for all radiologists, it could support interventional radiologists. “I see surgery and radiology moving toward less invasive procedures,” Rodriguez-Navarro says. “Interventional procedures are minimally invasive and guided by ultrasound or scans. Magnets can play a role in connecting instruments and enabling less invasive procedures with less damage to patients.”
Essentially, instead of a large incision, interventional radiologists could do a small puncture and help minimize patient damage. In addition, magnets could improve targeting and precision in image-guided procedures by integrating magnetic control with real-time radiologic imaging. Lastly, magnets could reduce complications and recovery times in biopsies, drain placements, and other minimally invasive, radiology-led interventions.
As AI use becomes more commonplace and augmented reality becomes integrated into the health care system, radiology could also benefit from advanced visualization and navigation tools that merge imaging data with magnetically guided instruments, Rodriguez-Navarro says. This would create a faster bridge between diagnosis and treatment.
“There will be more indications in interventional radiology, in the future,” Rodriguez-Navarro says. “It’s coming. We’re demonstrating that magnets offer a different way to interact with patients, whether you’re a surgeon, gastroenterologist, or radiologist. It’s a paradigm shift in patient interaction.”
— Rebekah Moan is a freelance journalist and ghostwriter based in Oakland. Her specialties are health care and profiles.
