Robotic Surgery: Applications

Abstract

In a relatively short amount of time, robots have made its way into both general and subspecialty surgical fields. The da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA) has been around for over a decade now. The first da Vinci surgical system came out in 1999 and was FDA approved in 2000. In 2003, a fourth robotic arm was added. The da Vinci S model came out in 2006 and offered improved robotic arm movements, console displays, and simpler set up. As of 2009, the latest model called da Vinci Si, now offers dual consoles so two individuals can collaborate simultaneously. Controls, vision, and ergonomics have been improved as well.The specialties that use the da Vinci system frequently are urological, gynecological, and gastrointestinal surgery (1). In 2010, Intuitive Surgical Inc., the manufacturer of the da Vinci robot, reported that over 70% of robotic procedures were for both prostatectomy and hysterectomy combined (1). Further, robotic technique is the preferred method of performing a radical prostatectomy as the definitive treatment for prostate cancer (2). In gynecology, it is estimated that over 60% of minimally invasive hysterectomies performed in patients with endometrial cancer were done robotically (3). There are several reasons why urologists and gynecologists perform more robotic procedures than their other surgical counterparts. These include balance of surgeon endoscopic skill level, meaning how often endoscopic or laparoscopic techniques are performed in their field; equipment limitations, especially when working with anatomically complex areas; and procedure complexity, taking into account which procedures are better performed open versus minimally invasive versus robotically, the latter having the greatest precision (2).Robotic options do exist for surgical treatment in other specialties although it is used much less frequently. These include cardiothoracic surgery, for cases of coronary bypass and heart defects repairs; general surgical oncology, for esophageal tumors, gastric cancer, colon cancer, thymoma; and pediatrics, to resolve congenital heart diseases, gastroespohageal reflux disease, or uretopelvic junction obstruction (4).

Modeling Research Topics for Artificial Intelligence Applications in Medicine: Latent Dirichlet Allocation Application Study

“…Based on the topics and research areas, we found that the application of AI in medicine and health care has been focused on robot support in surgery (topic 1) and rehabilitation (topic 9), AI in diagnosis and clinical decisions support (topic 2, topic 4, topic 5, topic 7, topic 8, and topic 10), and AI in health care system management (topic 3). First, for clinical treatment, our results confirm that medical robots and robot-assisted surgeries have been widely used [47,48]. AI has been widely applied in surgery due to its benefits for patients and medical professionals, such as increased accuracy, reduced operation time, minimized surgical trauma, and reduced length of recovery time for patients [49].…”

Robotic Total Knee Arthroplasty vs Conventional Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Nationwide Database Study

“…The first documented use of a robotic surgical arm,PUMA(Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm, Unimation, Danbury, CT), was in 1985 while performing a neurosurgical biopsy [ 17 ]. The subsequent decades saw improvements in robotic technology, ultimately culminating in the first FDA-approved robotic surgical system called the da Vinci Surgery System (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) for general laparoscopic surgery [ 17 ]. Robotic surgical systems were introduced into orthopaedic surgery in the later 1980s.…”

Technical feasibility of da Vinci SP single-port robotic cholecystectomy: a case report

“…What started as a single robotic arm aiding in neurosurgical biopsy [1] more than 3 decades ago, technological advancement has produced sophisticated robotic surgery machines that have enabled surgeons to perform more challenging surgical procedures, broadening the indications of laparoscopic surgery. Robotic surgery has even become the preferred approach in selected gynecological and urological procedures [2], with emerging roles in the areas of otolaryngology, cardiothoracic, and gastrointestinal surgeries. In Korea, the robotic surgical system saw its first application in the general surgical field in 2005 after showing technical feasibility in cholecystectomy [3].…”