Robots are being used more and more in medicine in various disciplines. They not only make difficult interventions easier, but also enable a whole new category of operations in the future.
Robots in medicine – That’s behind it
More and more departments and clinics are using robots in medicine. The futuristic OR assistants have many useful functions and support the surgeons in many ways.
- Robots have been used in medicine since the 1990s and have been continuously developed ever since. While they might help with operations back then, the old devices can hardly keep up with today’s systems.
- Modern robot systems, such as the well-known “DaVinci” robot, help with laparoscopic operations. These are operations in which cameras are used in a minimally invasive manner through small incisions in the skin.
- In a classic laparoscopic operation without a robot, the camera is held by an assistant. The main surgeon usually holds two other instruments to operate on while he can see the operated organs on a screen.
- With a surgical robot, the camera and instruments no longer have to be held by people and can therefore remain stable in one position for a longer period of time.
- In the case of robot systems with several arms, this means that more instruments can be used in the operation at the same time.
- The surgeon sits at a console and works with joystick-like handles next to the operating area. He thus has even finer control over the instruments.
- This means that surgeons can take turns during longer surgeries or take short breaks during which the robot continues to hold the instruments.
Robot-assisted surgeries – where does the future take us?
While robotic operating theaters already play a relevant role in the healthcare system today, they will only be used for their actual purpose in the future.
- One of the main ideas behind surgical robots is remote controlled operations.
- If there is a good connection, a doctor in Germany can theoretically operate on a patient on the other side of the world.
- However, there are several prerequisites for this. On the one hand, the robot must be controlled by a compatible console and, on the other hand, a safe, stable and fast internet connection exist, which enables an uncomplicated operation.
- Since Internet connections are not yet far enough, especially in Germany, to be able to operate without delays and without loss of connection, the robots are not yet used extensively for this purpose.
- But in the near future, patients with very specific diseases might be operated on by a specialist hundreds of kilometers away.
- In the distant future, certain interventions may also be performed entirely by a robot. However, it is unclear how long it will take to reach this milestone.