Robots in Surgery

The time of Robotic surgery is almost here! While all the surgical robots in existence today rely on people for function it will only be a matter of time before they are automatic.

Robotics are being introduced to medicine because they allow for unprecedented control and precision of surgical instruments in minimally invasive procedures. So far, these machines have been used to position an endoscope, perform gallbladder surgery and correct gastroesophogeal reflux and heartburn. The ultimate goal of the robotic surgery field is to design a robot that can be used to perform closed-chest, beating-heart surgery. According to one manufacturer, robotic devices could be used in more than 3.5 million medical procedures per year in the United States alone. One robot that has been recently developed is the da Vinci Surgical System.

The da Vinci Sugrical System was approved by the FDA in 2000 making it the first robotic system allowed to be used in American operating rooms. Ituses technology that allows the human surgeon to get closer to the surgical site than the human eye would allow, and work at a smaller scale than conventional surgery permits.

The $1 million da Vinci system consists of two primary components:
A viewing and control console
A surgical arm unit

In using da Vinci for gallbladder surgery, three incisions -- no larger than the diameter of a pencil -- are made in the patient's abdomen, which allows for three stainless-steel rods to be inserted. The rods are held in place by three robotic arms. One of the rods is equipped with a camera, while the other two are fitted with surgical instruments that are able to dissect and suture the tissue of the gallbladder. Unlike in conventional surgery, these instruments are not directly touched by the doctor's hands.

Two other roborts have also been made the Zeus system and theAutomated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning (AESOP) Robotic System.

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