Robotic surgery involves the use of robots in performing surgeries on patients. Robotic surgeries are increasingly being performed in the recent past in hospitals in the US with more confidence.
This has happened after technological innovations have removed most of the glitches in the interactions between doctors and the computer guided robots.
The use of robots is being made for surgeries in which utmost precision is required in operations. Of course, the whole operation is still directed remotely by a qualified specialist surgeon. However, the advantage of using the robot is that it can make a much more precise cut with a scalpel or laser with utmost efficiency than the best trained practicing surgeon can ever perform.
So, the surgery can become even more minimally invasive and help in reduced stay of a patient in the hospital. It can also reduce blood loss from a patient on the operating table and thereafter. It can help in reducing convalescence time. Faster recuperation is important to an executive as that means he can be back at work in lesser time than when he goes in for conventional surgical procedures.
An advantage of a robotic arm is that it has several more degrees of freedom of movement than the human wrist can. It has 7 degrees of freedom while the wrist has only 4. Therefore, robots have access to places inside the human body that the surgeon cannot without increasing the invasiveness of surgery.
Another advantage is that the robot will never get tired and commit mistakes because of that. The surgeon can still dominate the proceedings as he gets to control the robot's actions and play a major role in operations that hitherto seemed difficult for even him to perform single-handedly.
Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries are the staple in which robots have been made use of. Of late even complex neurosurgeries have been performed with the help of a robot. Keyhole gallbladder surgeries, correction of gastro-esophageal reflux, and precise positioning of an endoscope are also the surgical areas where robots have already entered into. Thoracic surgery, heart surgery and brain surgery are other areas in which robots are in various phases of being developed.
Robot-assisted operating systems such as the Da Vinci system have become quite popular today in hospitals around the world. Robotic telesurgery has already been heralded as the future of micro surgery.
However, robotic surgeries require proper training of the surgeons involved in regard to the technologies involved and their interactions with robotic arms. An unknown is the cost involved in performing robotic surgery as it is still beyond the affordability of most individuals. However, with more and more measures working towards cost cutting without sacrificing efficiency on the anvil, robotic surgeries are expected to become more and more popular in the eyes of the common man in future.
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