Robot-assisted surgery: a booming surgical option at the service of the surgeon’s and patient’s experience, an optimized care pathway and a technology that addresses major public health issues. Among the actors of this method, Intuitive continues to revolutionize the sector
Robot-assisted surgery, a booming method
In 30 years, surgery has benefited from a major technical revolution. Today, three operating methods make it possible to carry out most surgical interventions according to the predispositions and needs of the patients: open surgery, which is the traditional surgical technique, for which a long incision allows the surgeon to visualize the area to be operated on and to insert surgical instruments; laparoscopic (or “coelioscopic”) surgery which allows an endoscope to be inserted into the patient’s body through a small incision. ; and finally robot-assisted surgery, a minimally invasive technique performed through small incisions, incorporating innovative robotic assistance. The latter is booming with more than 250,000 surgical operations performed in France since the early 2000s.
Intuitive: robot-assisted surgery at the service of the surgeon and the patient ©2023 Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc
Benefits for the professional and the patient
The benefits of robot-assisted surgery for patients demonstrated in thousands of studies include reduced blood loss, reduced post-operative complications and pain, faster recovery and shorter duration of hospitalization or even ambulatory. In addition, this technique increases the operating capacities of surgeons and allows a better spontaneity of the surgical gesture. The hand movements that the surgeon performs at the console using joysticks are reproduced in real time and with extreme precision by the surgical instruments. These have seven degrees of freedom and are therefore more mobile than the human hand. Finally, this surgical technique makes it possible to optimize care pathways[1]. By reducing complications as well as the duration of hospitalization and by promoting ambulatory practice, minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery has the potential to provide concrete solutions to free up time and resources that can be reallocated.
A surgical method applied to many medical specialties
robot-assisted surgery is performed in 70 countries, and every 16.8 seconds, a surgeon begins a procedure of this type somewhere in the world. With more than 200 surgical systems installed in France, France is the best-equipped country in Europe.
It is mainly used in oncology and in the context of complex operations possibly requiring delicate dissections or reconstructions. It is also used in the following surgical specialties: urology (cancer of the prostate, bladder and kidney), gynecology (benign or malignant hysterectomy, myomectomy, endometriosis), colorectal surgery (colectomies, rectal resections), general surgery (hernias ventral and inguinal), thoracic surgery (lobectomy) and transoral otolaryngological surgery.
[1]Ploussard, G., Grabia, A., Barret, E. et al. Annual nationwide analysis of costs and post-operative outcomes following radical prostatectomy according to the surgical approach (open, laparoscopic, and robotic). World J Urol 40, 419-425 (2022).
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