Each day, many people gladly entrust their lives to automated machines at work or at home. However, you could be forgiven for getting shocked at the possibility of a robot bearing above you with a scalpel glinting. However, fear not. A surgeon, in fact a highly-trained one, is controlling the robotic surgical system. This article seeks to explain what robotic surgery is all about so that patients can make an informed decision.

Robo-surgeon

Bear in mind that in robotic surgery, the robot does not do anything on its own. On the contrary, all its movements and controls are synchronized by a surgeon sitting at a robotic console. The backbone of the robotic surgical system consists of 4 robotic arms, an HD 3D vision system with a high quality magnification capacity and the surgeon console. Traditional surgery devices like scalpels, forceps, staplers, suture drivers and retractors have been reimagined, with a wide range of motion and minimal danger from surgeon hand quivers.

The system's robotic and automated technologies work harmoniously to scale, filter and decipher the hand movements of the surgeon into micro-movements which guide the various surgical instruments from the basics like needle drivers and scissors to the more sophisticated instruments like staplers and electrocautery.

Seated at a control console situated in or adjacent to the operating room, the doctor employs the use of hand controls to operate surgical instruments across tiny incisions. Basically, the instruments move similar to high-precision puppets based on every movement of the surgeon's finger, hand or wrist. The robotic mechanisms as well as the 3D viewing capacity associated with robotic surgery allow the surgeon to manipulate body tissue and carry out surgery like nobody else.

Advantages

Robotic surgery achieves considerably better outcomes compared to either traditional surgery or radiation in delicate surgical procedures like radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. In fact, robotic surgery is able to do away with more cancerous tissue with minimal disruption of nearby nerve endings compared to other methods. In effect, this helps ease the prospect of cancer recurrence and preserve sexual function. That explains why majority of men who plan to undergo prostate cancer surgery opt for health centers providing robotic surgery. Today, robotic systems are preferred for complex procedures in gynecologic, cardiac, colorectal, urologic, thoracic, and head surgeries.

Since its inception, robotic surgery guarantees patients a better surgical outcome. In fact, once you've undergone robotic surgery, chances are that you wouldn't want to go back to traditional surgical procedures.