Computer assisted Robotic surgeries have taken the medical world by a storm. These technologically advanced treatments use robotic systems to aid during surgical procedures. These techniques were tried out to escape the limitations that are posed by minimally-invasive surgery and give a sustainable edge to surgeons who are performing open surgery.
This new medical technique has greatly transformed the medical surgeries and transplants and has taken the world of medical science by a storm.
Still, there are many in and around the world that are unaware of the benefits of robotic surgeries. This blog is written with the aim to popularize this advanced medical procedure and its benefits to the common masses.
What is Robotic Surgery?
Robotic surgery is a popular method to achieve minimally invasive surgery. The term “Minimally invasive” is a means of operation without carrying out large incisions. Small surgical instruments which carry out numbers of quarter-inch incisions are carried out. Da Vinci Si, World’s most advanced surgical robot is now being used for carrying out surgeries. The miniaturized instruments are lifted by three-armed robots so that the surgeon can get maximum precision and limited motion when performing surgery. The fourth arm of Da Vinci is installed with a highly magnified 3-D camera which is used for guiding the surgeon. The basic idea is to allow the surgeon to have maximum possible control in a surgery where minute errors can make an unwanted difference.
What are its applications?
- Cardiology: Three kind of heart surgery are these days being carried out using robotic surgery that are Atrial septal defect repair, Mitral valve repair, Coronary artery bypass.
- Urology: In the field of Urology, Robotic surgery has achieved massive popularity. Major effects have been seen in extracting prostate cancer from patients. Also being used for kidney cancer surgeries to extract kidney tumors.
- Nephrology: With earlier methods, obese patients could not achieve kidney transplants. But with robotic Surgeries, these patients have a better chance of going through kidney transplant surgeries, with drastically lesser risks of side-effects.
- Neurology: Within a period of one year, more than 150 neurosurgical procedures have been carried out using robotic surgeries.
- Transplants: Nowadays, heart transplants, kidney transplants and brain transplants are being effectively done by robotic surgery techniques.
- Orthopedics: Robotic treatments are being used these days for total knee replacement, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and total hip replacement.
- Surgical Oncology: Through robotic system surgeon scan carry out surgery and laparoscopy without affecting normal tissues and regular working bodily organs.
What are its benefits from Traditional Surgeries?
- With these techniques, the incisions that are made in a patient are small
- Patient is recovered quickly after going through such surgeries.
- In earlier methods of open-heart surgery, a ten to twelve-inch incision is made into the patient’s heart and the rib cage is spread open and wide. After that, the patient is kept on heart-lung machine. During this period, the heart is made to stop for a short of time. Hence in these methods, the recovery time is very long and it can cause infection and pain.
- Since the patients recover quickly after robot-assisted surgeries, they get to spend less time inside the hospital.
- It is estimated that patients who go through robot surgeries, on an average basis, get discharged two to five days earlier than patients who go through traditional open-heart surgery. The former patients also get back to their daily routine 50% more quickly than the latter patients.
- Reduced recovery times are not only better for the patient, they also reduce the number of staff needed during surgery, nursing care required after surgery, and, therefore, the overall cost of hospital stays.
- The surgeons have comparatively more control over the procedures and surgical instruments as compared to other minimally invasive surgery techniques.
- Surgeons also do not wear out quickly as they are no longer needed to stand for the entire procedures.
- The unavoidable naturally occurring hand shivers are avoided by robot’s computerized arms.
- The robot can be continued to be used for longer medical procedures which require a constantly rotating surgery teams.
What is the news regarding a major breakthrough in Robotic Kidney Transplant?
The Medanta Hospital in India and Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, USA, have announced a major breakthrough in the robotic kidney transplant. The surgeons of these medical institutes combined their efforts together to successfully perform kidneys transplant to 50 recipients with the help of robot-assisted procedure.
The technique used is named as ‘Icy’ technique, in which the organ of the patient was cooled down using sterile ice while the operation was being carried out. With the help of this successful operation, it is estimated by researchers that advanced minimally invasive robotic surgery are safer alternatives to traditional open surgery.
The medical researchers realized that kidney function would get partially impaired in the patients if the flow of blood was interrupted for more than 30 minutes while the transplant was being done. Hence, the doctors took a decision to freeze the donor’s kidney and the site of transplant with the help of sterile ice slush. They hoped that by doing so the amount of time is increased in which they can learn proper methods to carry out robotic surgeries.
In Gurgaon-based Medanta Hospital., the surgeons conducted successful 54 operations while International Kidney and Renal Diseases at Ahmedabad, conducted 56 successful operations.
None of the patients showed any kind of side effect and are showing recovery at a tremendous speed according the medical researchers.
Are there any limitations on Robotic Surgeries?
- The surgeons are required to go through the learning lessons on how to use the robotic computerized machines which require time.
- Also, so far there has not been any result that guarantees that the treatment done through robotic-assisted-techniques do not show any sort of side-effects in the long run.
- The robotic system also cost a great deal to doctors, medical institutes and even to the patients.