Robotic Surgeries: An Overview

 by Oliver Moras

What is a robotic surgery?

Robotic surgery, unlike how movies and TV may present it, isn’t surgery done by a little robotic man jumping inside your body. Instead, much like a scalpel, an instrument used by surgeons, a robot is used to carry out a surgery as simply another tool. It is a type of minimally invasive surgery, meaning it uses a small incision in order to access the body rather than a long incision which is used in open surgery. Same as a typical surgery, a surgeon would carry out the procedure; however, here it is done by controlling the robot via high definition 3D cameras and by moving the robot's arms which have surgical instruments on their ends. The process has been described by surgeons who had operated a robotic surgery as miniaturizing their bodies and traveling inside their patient.

What are the advantages of robotic surgery?

A benefit of this type of surgery is its less invasive nature and smaller incisions which allow for less pain to be experienced by the patient. This also leads to a shorter recovery time, reducing the average time occupying a bed per patient, allowing for a more efficient NHS. For example, a liver resection would keep a patient in the hospital for around a week or potentially longer when done with the traditional procedure whereas by using a robotic surgery, the patient may only be hospital-bound for 1 - 2 days (which would convert many procedures into outpatient surgeries). In addition, robotic surgeries have a much higher surgical accuracy than traditional surgeries for numerous reasons. For instance, robots aren’t susceptible to shaking or other strain-related movements (furthermore, shaking of the hand of the controlling surgeon can be negated by the machinery’s software, not affecting the procedure). Moreover, robots have an increased range of motion (can rotate their arms 360 degrees multiple times), boasting a much higher dexterity than humans. Another advantage is that this reduces the fatigue for the surgeons as multiple hour-long surgeries can be exhausting whereas with a robot, the surgeon can be sat down while operating comfortably, keeping surgeons aware and awake while also preventing fatigue-related errors and malpractice.

What are the disadvantages of Robotic surgeries?

On the other hand, these types of procedures tend to be much more expensive (due to the cost of the robotic system, maintenance, training, etc). One example is the da Vinci surgery robot which will cost between $3000 and $6000 more than a traditional minimally invasive surgery in America. The other key disadvantage is its movement latency. A few moments are needed for the computer to communicate with the robot and the issue is that it makes it difficult for surgeons to quickly respond to new problems which occur during an operation.

Conclusion

Overall, while issues of price and latency are present, I believe in time, mechanical issues will be resolved and I also believe that these devices will become cheaper with more effective and economically efficient designs being released in the future. I also think that the many advantages outweigh the disadvantages and with the disadvantages weakening over time, I find it only a matter of time before robotic surgeries become a standard.