According to a Frost & Sullivan report released Wednesday, image-guided and robot-assisted surgeries have grown in popularity in Western Europe. It is expected that by 2018, the market for such surgeries will grow to $1.7 billion.
Image-guided surgery (IGS) provides doctors a more precise way to operate on a given area, using digital imaging, without having to see the area directly. The technique is usually minimally invasive and performed in procedures near sensitive areas. Sinus surgeries and brain tumor removals are done with IGS because of their proximity to the brain.
Robot-assisted surgery (RAS) allows a surgeon to use a computer or telemanipulator to perform a procedure. It can be performed off-site or in person.
According to the report, IGS is the more established of the two techniques.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to wider deployment of RAS has been return-on-investment. The technology has huge up-front costs compared to the amount of revenue it generates. It does lead to shorter hospital stays and has shown to be a clinically superior approach. Both these outcomes have led to hospital administrators' greater acceptance of IGS and RAS.
One vendor in the RAS industry is Intuitive Surgical, Inc., creators of the da Vinci Surgical System. The Sunnyvale, CA-based company first developed the system back in 1999 and has a network of specially trained surgeons certified to use da Vinci machines in surgery. According to Intuitive Surgical, more than 2,500 da Vinci machines have been installed in over 2,000 hospitals globally.
Another concern about RAS, especially in the case of Intuitive Surgical, is whether or not the doctors using it have received adequate training. The FDA is currently investigating Intuitive Surgical after complaints about the da Vinci system.
Thanks to technological advances, the way medical treatment is provided continues to change. Telehealth technology makes it possible to handle routine visits remotely, either by phone or videoconferencing. IGS reduces the number of open surgeries, requires shorter recovery and is in many cases preferable to conventional surgeries. While RAS continues to gain popularity, it is a relatively young technology and requires thorough training.
If RAS can overcome its problems, it could have a huge impact especially in providing care to remote, underserved areas short on doctors. House calls long ago became an obsolete medical practice. If RAS and other telehealth technologies gain popularity, visiting a doctor in person could become one too.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
