Robotic surgery

About Robotic Surgery

 Robotic surgery, or robot-assisted surgery, allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with conventional techniques. Robotic surgery is usually associated with minimally invasive surgery — procedures performed through tiny incisions. It is also sometimes used in certain traditional open surgical procedures

The most widely used clinical robotic surgical system includes a camera arm and mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them. The surgeon controls the arms while seated at a computer console near the operating table. The console gives the surgeon a high-definition, magnified, 3-D view of the surgical site. The surgeon leads other team members who assist during the operation.

Advantages

Surgeons who use the robotic system find that for many procedures it enhances precision, flexibility and control during the operation and allows them to better see the site, compared with traditional techniques. Using robotic surgery, surgeons can perform delicate and complex procedures that may have been difficult or impossible with other methods.

Often, robotic surgery makes minimally invasive surgery possible. The benefits of minimally invasive surgery include:

• Fewer complications, such as surgical site infection
• Less pain and blood loss
• Quicker recovery
• Smaller, less noticeable scars

Is robotic surgery right for you?

Robotic surgery isn't an option for everyone. Talk with your doctor about the benefits and risks of robotic surgery and how it compares with other techniques, such as other types of minimally invasive surgery and conventional open surgery.

CURRENT USES

 

• General and Gastrointestinal Surgery: Cholecystectomy, Hernia repair, Appendicectomy, Nissen fundoplication for hiatus hernia, Heller myotomy for achalasia cardia, gastric bypass, adrenalectomy, splenectomy, small intestinal surgery, colonic and rectal surgery etc.
  
  
• Bariatric Surgery: Gastric bypass, gastric sleeve resection and gastric banding.
  
  
• Thoracic Surgery: Thymectomy, mediastinal tumor, lung resections, esophageal surgery.
  
  
• Urology: Radical prostatectomy, pyeloplasty, cystectomy, nephrectomy, ureteral reimplantation.
  
  
• Gynaecology: Ovarian cyst, Hysterectomy, myomectomy and sacrocolpopexy.
  
  
• Cardiac Surgery: Coronary artery bypass, Mitral valve repair, endoscopic atrial septal defect closure.
  
  
• Head and neck: Transoral resection of tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract (tonsil, tongue base, larynx), transaxillary thyroidectomy

It appears now that this is an option restricted to few select hospitals in the world. No one knows what the future holds and this is best illustrated by the following statement by Professor Douglas Hartree, Cambridge mathematician in 1951:

“All the calculations that would ever be needed in this country will be done on the three digital computers which are being built — one in Cambridge, one in Teddington, and one in Manchester. No one else, would ever need machines of their own, or would be able to afford to buy them."