Are you ready to take off as a robo-surgeon?

Abstract

Robotic-assisted surgery is the latest iteration toward less invasive techniques. Surgeons have slowly adapted minimally invasive and robotics techniques into their armamentarium. We have developed a robotic cardiac surgery program in Japan that utilizes the da Vinci Surgical System, allowing the surgeon to perform complex procedures through 5-mm port sites rather than a traditional median sternotomy. In this rapidly evolving field, we review the evolution and clinical results of roboticassisted surgery and take a look at the other general surgical procedures for which da Vinci currently being used.

The evolution of robotic surgery: surgical and anaesthetic aspects

“…2). 16 Between 1998-1999 both the da Vinci system and subsequently the Zeus were successfully used in coronary artery surgery as a proof-of-concept operative principle. Furthermore, the Zeus system was applied in Canada to complete the first beating-heart coronary operation, and in 2001 this system was applied to complete the Lindbergh operation; the first trans-Atlantic operation performed by utilising a tele-robotic system where the robotic surgical device (and French surgeons) were in New York and the patient was in Strasbourg in France.…”

The happy marriage of surgery and science/technology would lead to prosperous surgical development towards the year 2050

“…Within this century we will see a radical change in the traditional medical professions. 11 For those with a premium on a large amount of quickly accessed information combined with utterly reproducible manual precision, robots will be strong candidates.…”