They’ve been used for prostatectomies. Hysterectomies. Delicate spine surgery. And now they’re being used to remove cancerous parts of lungs, according to newsherald.com.
What are they? Robots.
A patient from Panama City, Fla., was expected to make a full recovery after her lobectomy, performed by robotic-assisted surgery at Gulf Coast Medical Center.
Sixty-one-year-old Barbara Seigler had a lobe of her lung removed, due to a malignancy, with a da Vinci robot, according to newsherald.com.
Robotic-assisted surgery is said to be much less invasive than regular surgery, with less blood loss, or complications, and usually a much faster recovery, according to da Vinci Surgery, the most well-known manufacturer of robots for assisted surgery.
For surgeons, robots enable exceptional control and precision of surgical instruments. The worldwide market for medical robotics has shown tremendous growth in the past several years and is projected to grow even more, according to the 2011 Robotic Surgery Market Report, a yearly study by ResearchandMarkets.com. Robotic surgery may or may not involve the direct role of a surgeon during the procedure, according to Brown University.
“With da Vinci, the patient is expected to only have a two- to three-day hospital stay, compared to a week with the traditional open surgery. There’s also a faster return to lung function, recovery time is also reduced and patients have less blood loss,” said Dr. Alex Jones, who performed the lobectomy in Panama City, in a news release.
During a lobectomy procedure, a lobe of the lung is removed, usually to treat a tumor. The procedure was one of fewer than 10 similar procedures that have been performed between Pensacola and Tallahassee.
da Vinci robotic surgery can be used for a variety of procedures, including gynecologic, urologic, prostate, pediatric surgery, general surgery and thoracic surgery. It’s even being looked at for children.
Robotic-assisted surgery is doing everything from helping a young man with spina bifida realize his dream of piloting an airplane, after urologic surgery, to gynecological cancer treatment, to the removal of the uterus (hysterectomy) and the ovaries, fallopian tubes and/or select lymph nodes and fibroid tumors, and the treatment of pelvic floor prolapse, as well as for cancers of the tongue, tonsils and thyroid.
Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
