Robotic surgery, also known as robot-assisted surgery, allows doctors to conduct a wide range of complex procedures with greater precision, flexibility, and control than traditional approaches allow.
Minimally invasive surgery, or procedures conducted through small incisions, is often coupled with robotic surgery. It’s also employed in some traditional open surgical procedures on occasion.
You may be perplexed and concerned if your doctor tells you that you require surgery. You’re undoubtedly concerned about the surgery’s success, the amount of discomfort you’ll experience, and the amount of time you’ll lose from work. The good news is that, because of developments in surgical technology, your surgery experience at UCLA will be substantially different.
About robotic surgery
Hospitals in the United States and Europe have quickly adopted robotic surgery for the treatment of a wide range of ailments.
A camera arm and mechanical arms with surgical instruments are included in the most extensively used clinical robotic surgical system. While seated at a computer station near the operating table, the surgeon controls the arms. The console provides the surgeon with a magnified, high-definition 3-D picture of the operative site. Other team members that assist throughout the procedure are led by the surgeon.
How Does the Robotic Surgical System Work?
Your surgeon makes tiny incisions in your body and inserts minuscule instruments and a high-definition three-dimensional camera to work with the Robotic system, and sometimes skin incisions are not necessary at all. Your surgeon then manipulates the equipment from a nearby console to complete the operation.
Consider the robotic system to be a video game. When you play a video game, you press a control button, and the machine interprets your actions in real time, accurately replicating your movements on the screen. Your surgeon manipulates the tools with master controls during a Robotic-assisted procedure, and the instruments transform your surgeon’s movements into precise movements within your body. Your surgeon is in complete control throughout the procedure, and the surgical system follows his instructions.
Benefits of robotic surgery
For the patient
- More precise surgery: Your surgeon will frequently have to operate on healthy, sensitive organs, tissues, and nerves. The purpose of surgery is to remove the aberration while preserving the health of the surrounding structures. The robotic instruments’ modest size and flexibility make this easier to do.
- Infection risk is reduced, and blood loss is reduced: Your surgeon uses little incisions instead of large ones, which reduces the risk of infection and blood loss.
- Earlier discharge from the hospital. Patients can usually go home sooner after a robotic surgery, sometimes even the same day.
- Scarring is reduced, and healing time is reduced: The smaller incisions also mean a quicker recovery time, perhaps as little as a few days.
- Better clinical results are common in many circumstances.
- Significantly less pain
For the surgeon
- An enhanced visual field: Your surgeon gets a better perspective of the operating room from the console. A magnified, detailed view of the afflicted area is provided by the high-definition camera. Your surgeon will be able to view the minute structures more clearly, resulting in a more precise operation.
- Superior dexterity: The dexterity and range of motion of a human hand are limited, but the robotic tool much exceeds them. The arms have a full 360-degree rotational range. This enables your surgeon to do procedures that would be impossible to perform without the robot.
- Access to hard-to-reach places: Your surgeon can access difficult-to-reach locations because to the robot’s increased flexibility and precision. As a result, surgeons can use robotic surgery to address a wider range of illnesses.
Robotic Surgery: What to Expect
Your surgeon “directs” the surgery from a nearby location during a Robotic-assisted surgery, rather than standing over you as in traditional surgery. While each surgery is unique, the following are the general steps involved in a robotic-assisted procedure:
- Your surgeon makes small incisions in your body (one to two centimeters long).
- A little robotic gadget and a powerful camera are inserted into your body by the doctor.
- Your surgeon then directs the process from a nearby console (a large computer). The area of operation can be seen substantially enlarged and with superb resolution at the console.
- Your surgeon sits at the console and adjusts the controls.
- The instruments react to your movements and convert them into accurate, real-time movements within your body.
- Your surgeon can effectively execute delicate surgery in hard-to-reach regions because to robotic instruments, which have higher dexterity and range of motion than humans.
Is a Robot operating on me?
Many individuals are likewise anxious about having surgery performed by a robot. You should be aware that the Robotic Surgical System is actually a system that allows your surgeon to manage the equipment while making precise, delicate motions. The robot will never make a choice or make an incision. Rather, your surgeon directs the robot, which allows for better precision than a human hand could achieve on its own.
The robotic system is unable to “think” for itself. It only reacts to the exact palm and finger motions of your physician. Your surgeon is in the operating room the entire time, directing the process.
