Like other minimally invasive surgeries, robotic surgery typically results in reduced muscle damage and soreness, smaller scars, shorter hospital stays and improved patient safety. Furthermore, robotic surgery helps surgeons avoid complications such as blood loss.
Many patients may feel unnerved at the prospect of having a robot perform their surgery, but you should rest assured that its movements only correspond with your surgeon’s precise hand movements and finger gestures.
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Minimally Invasive Surgery
Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) allows surgeons to access your internal organs through smaller incision sites, thus minimizing trauma to muscles, tissues and nerves and speeding recovery time. Furthermore, minimally invasive surgery means less post-op discomfort that will require less narcotic medication for pain management.
Under minimally invasive surgery (MIS), your surgeon will make one to five small incisions through which they insert a video camera and surgical instruments. From within the operating room console, they control these instruments while viewing three-dimensional images sent back by the camera on a monitor screen.
Robotic techniques offer surgeons an effective means of accessing the front portion of your thoracic spine – which lies surrounded by your heart and lungs – without needing to open up your chest. A thoracic lateral interbody fusion (TLIF) procedure employs tubular retractors placed either side of your spine; then wristed robotic instruments inserted between your ribs to either remove a herniated disc or place screws for spinal fusion support.
Advantages of minimally invasive spine surgery include less damage to surrounding tissues, nerves and blood vessels as well as reduced risks such as infection and blood clots. It’s also safer than traditional open surgery procedures which pose greater risks.
Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) also has several other advantages that make it appealing. With smaller incisions that heal more quickly and rarely result in scarring, Minimally Invasive Surgery allows you to return to your regular activities sooner. Furthermore, hospital stays tend to be shorter as well as recovery quicker with this form of surgery.
Improved Visualization
Surgeons use robotic systems, featuring mechanical arms with surgical tools and a high-resolution 3D camera, in surgery. A surgeon sits at a console adjacent to the operating table while controlling robot arms from this robotic system – this provides them with an enlarged, high-definition view of the surgical site.
Due to robotic surgery’s precision, your surgeon is better able to view and access areas inside your body more quickly than with other techniques. This enables us to easily biopsy small nodules that would otherwise only be visible using imaging, while waiting until they became large enough for conventional biopsy methods to become visible enough for removal.
At Emory, our thoracic surgeons utilize the da Vinci system with multiple ports (thin tubes) and instruments the size of a dime. Your surgeon controls it from a console a few feet away while an assistant stays close by to assist with any instrument changes as necessary.
Our thoracic surgeons have extensive experience using a robot for lung resection/procedure, thymic surgery, diaphragm procedures and more. It allows us to complete these operations through smaller incisions without needing to spread ribs and breastbone – an approach associated with more pain, slower recovery and an increased risk of complications than traditional operations.
Many patients may feel uncertain about relying on a robot to perform their surgery, but we want you to rest assured that our system only responds to your surgeon’s precise hand and finger movements – always in control throughout. Furthermore, the da Vinci system also allows surgeons to work more collaboratively for more complex procedures by sharing dual consoles; our surgeons frequently utilize them when operating with colleagues on patients who require multiple surgeons’ expertise.
Increased Precision
Robotic surgery offers many advantages over traditional or laparoscopic techniques, including greater precision. This can be especially valuable when working in tight spaces where access may be difficult through small incisions – which is often the case during certain gynecologic surgeries like hysterectomy or cholecystectomy procedures.
Surgical robots translate the movements of surgeon’s hands, wrists and fingers into precise instrument control at a console near their patient. Once programmed with instruments to use during an incision-less surgery process or even sometimes without one at all, these robotic hands operate the instruments – all the while providing high-definition views of their surgical site on a monitor screen.
Because surgeons can sit more comfortably at a console, there’s less physical strain for them as well. This allows them to stay more alert and focused during procedures – increasing chances of positive outcomes.
The da Vinci system, the most frequently employed method of robot-assisted surgery, typically involves making several small incisions and inserting interactive arms and a 3D camera, before manipulating these tools from their console. Surgeons can adjust the scale of movement such that one inch equals four inches for instance.
At MedStar, we also offer transoral robotic surgery (TORS) as a minimally invasive option to treat cancer in the throat and obstructive sleep apnea. This technique uses three small incisions in the neck similar to traditional robotic surgery procedures and may help treat oropharynx tumors that have spread into soft palate, base tongue or tonsils – especially useful when treating oropharynx cancer which often has long recovery periods associated with traditional treatments for head and neck cancer. The experience surgeons needed for transoral robotic surgery can also benefit patients in treating tumors located within oropharynx region including soft palate base tongue tonsils where tumors have spread.
Reduced Pain
Surgical robots have enabled physicians to perform many procedures with reduced pain and complications than traditional methods, as well as offering patients shorter hospital stays and quicker recoveries.
Robotic surgery technology has revolutionized gynecologic surgery by providing surgeons with access to difficult-to-reach areas of the pelvis without as much pain or blood loss. For example, robotics has been utilized in performing hysterectomy surgeries (removal of the uterus) as well as treating ovarian cysts and pelvic organ prolapse. Robotics has also been utilized in prostate surgery procedures; additionally it makes reaching small parts of throat or mouth more accessible during head and neck surgeries to treat cancer or other medical conditions.
Surgeons trained to perform robotic surgery use their training to ensure a safe and successful procedure. The robotic platform contains interactive arms that mimic surgeon hands; surgeons control them from a console that offers HD views of the surgical site. Surgeons may select an appropriate scale of movement for robot instruments; for instance, they might set it so the tip of one arm moves one inch for every three inches their hand moves.
Robotic surgery systems now come equipped with another benefit: haptic feedback. Haptic feedback mimics the sense of touch, helping surgeons feel whether they are applying too much or too little force during tissue manipulation, and potentially prevent breaking of sutures during procedures.
Though robotic surgery offers numerous advantages, it may not be right for everyone. Speak to your physician to assess whether robotic surgery would be suitable. If it turns out to be, he or she can then explain its advantages and drawbacks compared to other minimally invasive options and open surgery procedures.
Enhanced Recovery
Robot-assisted surgery enables surgeons to make smaller cuts in the body, sparing important muscle and nerve tissue for faster healing with reduced pain levels and shorter hospital stays.
At your robotic procedure, you’ll be under general anesthesia. Your surgeon will make a few small incisions through which ports (thin tubes) are inserted; attached to these ports is the robotic system with tiny surgical tools on its arms attached by thin cables called arms (robotics system). An endoscope containing high definition images allows doctors to look inside your body; your surgeon then controls its movements from a console a few feet from you and is joined by an assistant who stays close by in case they need any changes made during surgery.
Robotic arms provide your surgeon with greater precision and flexibility, enabling him or her to access areas of the body difficult for human hands to access. Furthermore, because robot hands do not exhibit natural tremors like human hands do, results tend to be more consistent.
Current systems offer improved dexterity and visualization, but current systems also increase haptic feedback (a combination of force and tactile sensation that provides comfort to doctors during procedures like cholecystectomy where pulling out can damage sutures). This feature makes your doctor feel more assured in applying pressure, helping them feel more in control about how much is applied – something especially helpful during procedures where pulling the gallbladder may rupture sutures.
