Is one of the benefits that remote surgery can be done? If so, then you can go on vacation and do your surgery from the beach! Dang. Sounds worth the money then.
Good job on this post.
Keep an open mind about this technology. I am approaching my 500th robotic operation and am performing minimally invasive robotic surgery that no one has been able to do laparoscopically as well and is likely not possible. Specific areas are robotic cystectomy for bladder cancer and robotic simple prostatectomy for BPH.
I agree with your thoughts, but remember the same arguments were made for lap vs. open at the beginning with longer OR times, cost, etc.
If you are in the NYC area, drop me an email and we can get you in to watch some robotics.
Distractible Rob 6:37
so far.. the surgeon still has to be in the same room as the patient. So no beach tele-surgery.. at least not in the U.S. They have done remote tele-surgery in Canada and elsewhere, so it's probably on the not-to-distant horizon.
Nice post DocSurg.. I think some of the limitations of the robot in general surgery is the need for multi-quadrant surgery. The newer system, the davinci S has much more maneuverability and true multi-quadrant reach. For urologic and gyn applications, the robots ability to work in the deep pelvis is unsurpassed.. more so for urology due to the need for complex reconstruction. There isn't much to reconstruct after a hysterectomy (except the occasional ureter). I have a (growing) series of robotic Boari distal ureteral reimplantations following hysterectomy. For any type of urinary reconstruction (pyeloplasty, boari flap, nephroureterectomy), the robot is clearly way ahead of anything else out there.
http://www.DrYew.com/pages/resources.htm
http://www.UroCanswer.com
All you really need is the surgical team and a machine that goes "ping"!
Robotic surgery is here to stay. As we improve the robotic technology, allowing set up time to improve. As our staff more efficiently manages the robot, our times will improve and cost differentials should fall in line.
As an orthopedist I see it coming down the line in our field. We now utilize computer navigation for total hips and knees. We will soon begin to us it for complex acetabular reconstructions. We are currently scanning a patients anatomy onto a disc and creating a 3D virtual reality joint that allows us to place a total knee to fit the biomechanical axis unique to each knee. It will not be far off when a robot with a rotor will simply mill the end of the bone perfectly and predictably to improve longevity of the procedures we perform.
I agree that robotic surgery is here to stay, and will gradually play a larger role. Since I like new toys, however, I would love the opportunity to use it! The data at present don't really support me in pushing to get a robot for general surgical use ---- yet.
Commenting by HaloScan
