Technical Challenges of Remote Access Surgery Essay

Imagine a place where robots can not only decrease mistakes, but it can also save many lives during dangerous and high risk surgeries. I have had friends and family have these procedures done, and it was helpful and successful. Telerobotic surgeries are helpful, it prevents less to no mistakes, less deaths, and makes procedures easier.

Included in the discussion of their cultures we will also touch on the way some countries feel about these types of technology. It will be important for us to also talk about the environment. Then, finally, we must talk about both the moral and ethical aspects of using robots to perform surgery. By researching and reporting these things, it is our desire for everyone to not only have a better understanding of the technology, but to consider it as an alternate source, if needed in the future. It is technology like robotic assisted surgery that will help us have the long, healthy lives we all desire.

Technology has been advancing with the years, and it has changed how people live, communicate, travel, and learn. In particular, healthcare has changed due to the continuous technological advancements. Robotic advancements specifically have been transforming the health care industry. It is becoming noticeable that robotics are now being used for a variety of purposes in healthcare including drug making, moving supplies, administering drugs to patients, and monitoring patient vitals. A progressing form of robotics in healthcare is robotic surgery. One of the top functioning robotic surgery devices is the da Vinci Surgical System. Since 2000, surgical device has completed over 20,000 surgeries, which has set up the movement of using

The laparoscope and other surgical instruments will be put through the incisions. Your surgeon will use the laparoscope and a robotic arm to help control the surgical instruments.

As technology improves, surgical robots are rapidly gaining support among both doctors and patients across America. Today more than 900 hospitals have the da Vinci robot which is double the number in 2007. (Freyer, 2010) Da Vinci robots were first approved by the FDA in 2000 for prostate removal, but now da Vinci robots are used for a variety of other surgical procedures (Freyer, 2010). Robot assisted surgery offers advantages such as smaller incisions, reduced blood loss, less pain and faster healing time (Vijay, 2010), as well as making surgery less demanding for the surgeon. Robotic surgery involves many obvious advantages but the impact of cost, access, and quality must

Beginning from trephination which according to historians was the oldest operation performed even in prehistoric times to minimally invasive operations with use of technology that have now become the norm in modern era, the field of surgery has evolved by leaps and bounds. Various aspects of technology assisted surgery have been dealt with in this paper along with the different types of technologies in use like computer assisted and robotic surgeries. Traditional and modern methods have been compared and their pros and cons have been discussed in detail along with the application of technology in various surgical branches.

Robotic-assisted surgery is starting to become the new way of performing surgeries. More and more hospitals are starting to invest in the technology to perform these types of surgeries. With the way technology keeps advancing, this will most likely be the way all surgeries are performed in the future. There are many things people need to be informed about such as, what robotic-assisted surgery is, what the pros of robotic assisted surgery are, and what the cons of robotic-assisted surgery are.

Most advances of telehealth in the medical field have taken place in the last twenty to thirty years. A great progression of telehealth was the introduction of telemedicine, which include teleradiology and telepathology. As further fields joined the telemedicine platform, telehealth use facilitated even more healthcare providers to retrieve information regarding their patients, irrespective of the distances between themselves and the patients, and in settings other than traditional healthcare locations. Quick transmissions, clearer imaging, and precise duplication of data from distant sites to a central center, was only attained after decades spent perfecting the technology. The outcomes of telehealth interactions today have aided to assure that professionals can duplicate the normal clinical communications in all specialties notwithstanding the separation gap involved in the interaction, whether operating off location or directly with patients (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2015, p. 316-317).

Robot assisted surgeries are surgical procedures which utilize a robotic system controlled by a physician or a surgeon (via a computer). The robotic system is equipped with a camera to help the operator see the organ being operated upon. These systems are known for their precision, accuracy, delicacy, and overall efficient controlling options. [3] Since their invention, they have been, and currently are used in urological, neurological, endoscopic, cardiovascular, and gynecological surgeries. Robot assisted surgeries have been in practice since 1990 after the approval of the technology by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), although the history of Robot assisted surgery dates back to 1985 when it was first used to perform a neurological biopsy. [1]

This robotic device can be used for several different surgical procedures ranging from gynecology surgeries to cancer procedures. Three components comprise the da Vinci surgery system: a high definition 3 dimensional vision system, a surgeon console and a patient cart. The patient cart contains four interactive robotic arms that are controlled by the surgeon during surgery. The robotic arms each hold the surgical instruments needed to perform the surgery. One of the robotic arms also holds a camera so the surgeon can view the surgical area he needs to perform on. While seated at the surgeon console, the da Vinci surgeon views the patient and the surgical field through a remarkable clear 3 dimensional screen. Forceps controls are also provided for the surgeon to manipulate the four interactive robotic arms. Each surgical instrument copies the surgeon’s movement to perform the surgery.

Robotic computer-assisted surgery will progress throughout the years. It is possible that next generation robotics can perform tissue, organ and molecular surgery (El-Hakim, 2007). It is used nationwide; however, it is expensive and has disadvantages compare to conventional surgery. Surgeons are performing robotic operation despite lack of evidence concerning technical safety. According to Weiss (2015), the readmission after major cancer surgery is high resulting in significantly poorer patient outcomes and higher cost.

The Da Vinci Surgical System is a large purpose-built robot controlled by a surgeon that performs minimally invasive surgical procedures on patients. The system incorporates an ergonomically designed surgeon's console, a patient-side module with four interactive robotic arms, each with interchangeable surgical instruments and a 3-dimensional endoscopic vision system. Powered by high-tech supercomputers, the surgeon's hand movements are scaled, filtered and then converted into precise movements of the surgical attachments. The designers of the system are a team of doctors, engineers and biomedical engineers at a company called Intuitive Surgical.

IGS had dominated the surgical operation theatre (OT) since it successfully lead to the removal of a needle in a patient's hand in January 1896 at Birmingham UK [2]. IGS in its various forms (Registration, Visualization which includes Virtual and Augmented Realities, and Segmentation) is indispensable since the adoption of minimally invasive method of surgical operation [3], [4], [5] in disfavor of traditionally more invasive method because of the latter's advantages, which includes efficacy, reduced cost, less lesion, minimal discomfort to the patient, surgeons' safety, less operation time (surgical plan can be practiced ahead of time, recorded, and presented in the operating room), decreased hospital stay, less post operation medication, and quick healing time .In recent years imaging techniques have grown greatly in their sophistication and can provide the surgeon with high quality guidance [10] at many stages of intervention.

What usually comes to mind when one hears the term “robotic surgery”? There are not live robots who operate on a patient. In actuality, the robots do not think by themselves, as they are completely controlled by the surgeon (Herron). These da Vinci Surgical System is starting to become more common in the United States, as it is the only robotic system that has clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (Bush et al. 2). At this modern age, computer-assisted robotic surgery must be used to enhance the overall well- being of the patients and the productivity of a hospital using the capabilities of the da Vinci Surgical System.

Technology is transforming the medical field with the design of robotic devices and multifaceted imaging. Even though these developments have made operations much less invasive, robotic systems have their own disadvantages that prevent them from replacing surgeons all together. Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a broad notion encompassing a lot of common procedures that existed prior to the introduction of robots. It refers to general procedures that keep away from long cuts by entering the body through small, usually about 1cm, entry incisions, through which surgeons use long-handled instruments to operate on tissue inside the body. Such operations are directed by viewing equipment and, therefore, do not automatically need the use of a robot. Yet, it is not incorrect to say that computer-assisted and robotic surgeries are categories that fall under minimally invasive surgery (Robotic Surgery, n.d.).