SUNDAY, DAY 7
MEDICAL MILESTONES
In most aspects of medicine, nothing can take the place of an expert doctor with the compassion of the human touch. In some others, however, the efficiency of computer-driven treatment is quite useful. Today, when it comes to surgery, for example, robotic technology can reduce healing time and improve patient recovery. Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery is supplemented by robotic instruments directed by the surgeon.
Although robotic surgery may not literally be “hands on” for doctors, they are still very much involved in the process by programming information about the surgery and the patient into a computer ahead of time and by operating the robotic tools themselves during the surgical procedure. These robotic tools can reduce human error and allow finer movement of instruments. Robots also make possible the concept of telesurgery—a surgeon in Canada operating on a patient in Mexico, for example, although current technology hasn’t yet been able to eliminate a significant time lapse within such systems.
In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved for sale the first robot for use in American hospitals, the da Vinci Surgical System. The device can be used for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. The da Vinci system consists of a viewing and control console and three or four stainless steel “arms” that can hold tiny cameras or surgical instruments. Instead of cutting a patient’s chest completely open to perform heart surgery, for example, a surgeon makes just three or four tiny incisions in the patient’s chest. Using handheld remote controls, the surgeon steers the thin arms below the skin to perform the surgery. The system magnifies the operative field to increase what can be seen, as well.
These devices are very expensive, but they potentially may reduce costs by shortening hospital stays, minimizing complications, and permitting a more rapid return to work with less time to full recovery.