According to Maj (Dr.) Morgan Barron, General Surgeon at the Blanchfield Army Medical Center (BACH) https://blanchfield.tricare.mil, “Robotically assisted surgery may sound like something from a futuristic science fiction movie to some, but it is actually a safe and increasingly common method shown to deliver better outcomes for patients than traditional surgery.”
Robotically assisted surgery is used for minimally invasive procedures. Unlike open surgery which involves cutting open skin and tissues to give the surgeon a full view of the structures or the organs involved, this minimally invasive surgery is a common technique requiring just three small incisions in most cases.
One incision is for a small wound-like video camera that when inserted provides a magnified view of what is going on inside the patient at the surgical site. A two dimensional image is transmitted so the surgeon can view the image on a high definition monitor over the operating table. The other two incisions are used to insert the thin hand-held cutting tools, about the size of knitting needles to enable the surgeon to manipulate by hand to perform the surgery.
According to Dr. Barron, “Robotically assisted surgery provides surgeons better visualization and greater mobility. Robotically held instruments offer more precision and stability than traditional laparoscopy and are not prone to the fatigue that a human may experience standing at an operating room table for a long period of time.”
The robotically assisted surgical system is made up of three components:
- The robotic cart has a unit with four arms which hold the camera and surgical instruments.
- The surgeon console is where the surgeon sits in an ergonomically designed control console directing the robotic arms movements
- The cart-like endoscopic stack contains supporting hardware and software components, such as suction pumps and an electrosurgical unit
Dr. Barron anticipates offering the option for robotically assisted surgery at BACH very soon as the hospital awaits the final supporting components to bring the system fully online.