Since the first technological advancements of humanity, such as the first use of fire or the invention of the first wheel, mankind has been looking for progress. And when we talk about progressing, we mean more effective ways in which a job can be done, with little or no effort.
In all fields of study, our society has been advancing in order to improve his quality of life. And today is the day in which the areas of medicine and robotics fuse together in order to grant a benefit to patients of all over the world. And this is robotic surgery.
Although it could be insane to think that a robot would operate you, in fact it is not that. It is cutting edge technology in the 21st century. Robotic surgery is a surgical procedure in which medical operations can be made using robotic systems.
How the robots are controlled
This method of surgery was created with the intention of using assisted minimally surgeries, instead of the surgeon of manually moving the instruments. In order to control the robot, the surgeon uses a telemanipulator or a computer.
Generally, we understand a telemanipulator as a remote manipulator that allows the surgeon to perform the movements that are needed for a surgery. In a computer controlled system, the surgeon uses a computer to control the robotic arms, although that system can also use telemanipulators for more advanced inputs. The real advantage of computerized methods is that the surgeon does not have to be present, gaining a great advantage of versatility.
Benefits of using robotic surgery
Heal faster
The first of the benefits we want to mention about robotic surgery is that patients tend to heal much easier than those that do not use it. The machines are so precise that they only need to make modifications of the flesh of the patients in extremely necessary points, making that the patient could improve his condition in less time.
Return to their normal activities faster
It is worthy to keep in mind that most patients that use robot surgery return quicker to their normal activities, making it the ideal choice for those who must improve their health condition as fast as possible in order to continue with their daily routines.
Less painful
And it is not only about healing faster; robotic surgery is also less painful for patients, as its accuracy allows doctors to work without having to make unnecessary movements in the operation process.
Visualization and instrumentation improvements
And of the most important advances in robotic surgery are the improvements in visualization and dexterity of instrumentation. This means that in normal circumstances, doctors have to watch laparoscopic surgeries on 2D, and it has been the rule for many years. But thanks to robotic surgery, this reality changed because the machine can also detect deepness, meaning that surgeries go in 3D – making them way more precise.
And about instrumentation, it is the ability of a surgeon of being versatile in the places in which he can operate a patient. In this case, we can say that robot surgery has crucial improvements on the field because the controller can make surgeries in spaces that many cannot do with conventional instrumentation. And this is a huge advance over what most doctors can do with open surgery.
Less or little blood loss
Definitely, the most important advantage of robotic surgery in comparison to the conventional method is that it allows less blood loss in patients on their surgeries. This is a major advantage, because it has been shown that 30% or even 40% of the patients who used robotic surgeries who get blood transfusion after open surgery. In some of the cases their own blood is transfused, and in others they need to use bank blood.
But in the experience of those doctors that use robotic surgery, the transfusion rate after an operation is less than 1%. This has been an amazing data for those who still doubt about those operations, as in the recent studies only 10 patients out of 1200 use blood transfusion. It can be simply considered as a revolution in the area of surgeries.
For now, robotic surgery can be used in several types of surgery such as heart, thoracic, gastrointestinal, gynecology, bone, spine, transplants, general surgery and urology. But it has not been approved for cancer surgery, as it is unclear to determine if this method is safe in that sort of operations.
Although robotic surgery is a crucial advancement in the fields of medicine, it is right now far to be a standard in the field, mainly because of its expensiveness. The machinery and the robots are also very huge. The surgeons also lose the capacity of touching organs, losing the ability of feeling with their hands the parts they need to operate. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that sooner or later this method for surgery is going to be part of the future.