The Pros and Cons of Robot Assisted Surgery

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Robot assisted surgery is a relatively new concept, with success stories making news and journals just seventeen years ago, and the idea of it in some induces awe, and others, caution. When considering the benefits and drawbacks of robotic surgery, one must take into account the view of the patient, and their needs, versus the view of the physicians, and their limitations. Marketing of the robotically assisted surgery certain does consider these things, but often leaves out the social and geographical limits on the technology.
View of technology
The public view of the robot surgery technology is unclear and muddled by reports of “Success Stories” (Pransky, 1997) and reports of injury lawsuits and even deaths (Langreth,
2013). From the view of the patients, reports like these present robot surgery as an untested, and unknown, experimental technology, even though it was approved by the FDA in 1997, (Pransky, 1997), 2000, and 2005 (Meadows, 2005). The difference between the patient view and the physician view is, predictably, information.
Patient perspective
As a patient, it is hard to understand why surgeons need to use a robot to assist in surgeries; as da Vinci Surgeries puts it:
“Despite the widespread use of minimally invasive or laparoscopic surgery in today's hospitals, adoption of laparoscopic techniques, for the most part, has been limited to a few routine procedures. This is due mostly to the limited capabilities of traditional laparoscopic technology, including standard video and rigid instruments, which surgeons must rely on to operate through small incisions.

In traditional open surgery, the physician makes a long incision and then widens it to access the anatomy. In traditional minimally invasive surgery – which...

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...Meadows, M. (2005). Computer-Assisted Surgery: An Update. fda.gov. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://web.archive.org/web/20090301135726/http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/405_computer.html
Navigating the System: When You're Uninsured. (2014). The future of surgery. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from http://thefutureofsurgery.com/your-health/?/134191/Navigating-the-System--When-You-re-Uninsured
Pransky, J. (1997). ROBODOC - surgical robot success story. Industrial Robot, 34(3), 231-233. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.robot.md/publications/robodoc-surgical-robot-sucess-story.pdf
Slack, C., & Appleton, A. (2007). The Robot Surgeon. Proto Magazine. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://protomag.com/assets/the-robot-surgeon
What is Robotic Surgery?. (2011). The Future of Surgery. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://thefutureofsurgery.com/about/

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