Da Vinci Surgical System

The da Vinci Surgical System made by Intuitive Surgical is a robotic surgical system. It is most commonly used for prostatectomies, cardiac valve repair and gynecologic surgical procedures, but can be used for any abdominal or thoracic surgical procedures. It has four robotic arms. Three of them are for tools that hold objects, act as a scalpel, scissors, bovie, or unipolar or dipolar electrocautery instruments. The fourth arm is for a camera with two lenses that gives the surgeon full stereoscopic vision from the console. The surgeon is seated at a set of controls and looks through two eye holes at a 3-D image of the procedure, while maneuvering the arms with two foot pedals and two hand controllers.

Procedures

The da Vinci Surgical System was cleared by the FDA for General Laparoscopic Surgery in 2000. [FDA] The "'da Vinci Surgical System"' is most commonly used for prostatectomies, cardiac valve repair, and gynecologic surgical procedures. The da Vinci System is useful in procedures that are focused on one specific area of the abdomen or thorax. Procedures that are not localized and require the surgeon to move around to different areas are very inconvenient, considering the time it takes to set up the da Vinci System's ports. Surgeons are beginning to employ the da Vinci System to remove tumors on the liver and pancreas, on account of the delicacy of the procedure, the number of blood vessels that the surgeon must deal with, and the single location of the operation.

Future

The da Vinci System could potentially be used to perform truly remote operations. The possibility of long distance operations depend on the patient having access to a da Vinci System and someone to put in the ports, but technically the system could allow a doctor in the United States, for example, to do surgery on a patient in Antarctica.

Pediatric use of robotic technology

Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston developed and perfected the technique for performing robotically-assisted pediatric pyeloplasties, and have recently completed an 18-month study that showed that the same technique is effective for bladder augmentation procedures. Results from research conducted at Children's have also led to advances and refinements in the robotic equipment, making it more suitable for use in pediatric surgery.

The Center for Robotic Surgery's robust research program is focused on finding safe and innovative applications for robotic technology. Children's Hospital Boston is one of the only pediatric hospitals to perform clinical assessments and outcome analysis - measuring and analyzing the outcomes of robotic surgeries versus open surgeries to ensure the use of the surgical robot is always advantageous to the patient.

A second surgical robot, housed in the hospital's new 800,000 square-foot state-of-the-art research building, is dedicated exclusively to training surgeons and developing and perfecting new robotic procedures and surgical techniques before they are applied to patients.

References

External links

* [http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/products/davinci_surgicalsystem/index.aspx Official site]
* [http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/corporate/companyprofile/index.aspx History]
* [http://childrenshospital.org/robotics]
* [http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/corporate/newsroom/videos/index.aspx Technical Overview Videos]
* [http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/405_computer.html FDA Site about Computer-Assisted Surgery]