Thursday, July 7, 2005
da Vinci Robot Surgery System
Filed under: Surgery
The OR continues to be crowded by giant robots. Hot on the heels of the Penelope Surgical Instrument Server comes the new da Vinci Surgical System, from Intuitive Surgical:
"The robot takes us a big step beyond traditional laparoscopy. It allows us to operate more naturally, the way we do in open surgeries, but still preserve a minimally invasive approach with small incisions."...After sleeve placement, the robot, much like a post with three arms, is wheeled over and its center arm docked to a port that holds the camera and the other arms docked to the instrument ports.
However, surgery with the da Vinci does not mean close proximity to the patient. Unlike with laparoscopy, the surgeon is seated across the room from the patient, with arms inserted into the nearby console, fingers on stirrup-like holders and eyes fixed on lenses for sharp magnified images of the surgical site. Focus is adjusted via foot pedals.
While laparoscopy allows manipulation of instruments up, down and side-to-side, surgery with the da Vinci allows more natural wrist movement.
The robot's arms have wrists with eight degrees of freedom that allow the surgeon "to bend around corners and work in ways that are much more natural," said Boggess. This allows full range of motion and the ability to rotate instruments 360 degrees through tiny incisions. Direct and natural hand-eye instrument alignment is similar to open surgery, with "all-around" vision and the ability to zoom in and out.
Another advantage with da Vinci is the elimination of tremor...
Professor Boggess says patients who've been operated on with the robotic system have shorter hospital stays, require fewer pain meds, and return to normal activities more quickly. We suspect robotic patients would fare even better.
More at Intuitive Surgical...
Flashback: Robotic Surgery for Female Infertility.
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