Medical robot technology has been around for longer than most people think; Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, for instance, installed a da Vinci robot in 2004 – upgrading it in 2011 to a dual operating console with 4 robotic arms.
It embodies many of the advancements that have been made since the advent of robotics and is a component part of a cyber generated evolution that is now termed the 4th industrial revolution.
In addition to allowing 2 surgeons to operate at the same time, the later model assists surgeons with its longer arms, permitting a wider range of surgical procedures. It has a larger range of specialist instruments and provides surgeons with MRI and CT images while operating.
Leading edge da Vinci robots are made by US company Intuitive Surgical and are used in over 70 UK hospitals. But rivals are vying for a slice of a growing market that offers lucrative prospects for innovative equipment that combines cost advantages with greater sophistication.
One such rival, CMR Surgical, makes the Versius robot in Cambridge. CMR believe their smaller model’s versatility will not only perform a wider range of operations but is easier to set up and more economical to run.
One of the biggest benefits that robotics has already bestowed can be measured in hospital staff training; where suturing(stitching) teaching once took up to 80 hours with manual tools, Versius keyhole surgery needs only a very small amount of training.
The da Vinci robots have been mainly associated with prostate, bladder and gynaecological surgery, but newer versions of robotic surgery promises other possibilities. Indeed, the NHS information sheet “TREATMENT – Bowel cancer” https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer/treatment/ refers specifically to robotic surgery.
Company investment has mushroomed in recent years ; Google has partnered with Johnson & Johnson, backing Verb Surgical to exploit by 2020 the potential of linking robots to the internet. An example of how this technology is changing the concept of surgery is provided by the case of a Peruvian town hospital with one surgeon trying to provide palate surgery.
By using digital technology the Peruvian surgeon was able to communicate through voice and text and video.Two people were thus able to virtually interact in a way that mimics how they would collaborate in person. Being able to show someone what you want to do is so much more powerful than just telling them. And it can make for such a great teaching tool, because that amounts to learning through direct experience.
The acute shortage of surgical staff is driving the growth of Augmented Reality-Assisted surgery; for training, preparation and operational applications.
Augmented Reality: two words that could revolutionise how we do surgery.
