Robotic surgery

Abstract

Research activity into the use of robotics in surgery is considered by virtually all to be important. Most agree that sometime in the future robotics will be an important part of surgical care, However, the issue has recently emerged from the research lab, Robotic devices are now available for clinical use in the USA following FDA approval, But their use is indeed controversial, The controversy revolves around a few key issues, The biggest of these is cost, Since we are currently in an economic contraction in the world of professional medical care, we have all become accustomed to thinking about how to save money rather than how to spend it, Since the surgical systems currently available are quite expensive, the cost of the systems themselves is controversial, The current systems are also cumbersome, They were created by modifying robotic devices used commonly in industry for medical applications, Therefore they are big and take up a large amount of room in the operating theatre, Another area of controversy is the additional time that robotic operations are perceived to consume, With respect to the technology itself, the absence of tactile feedback raises great controversy for many surgeons, Finally, whether laparoscopic surgeons should use such machines or surgeons who have not previously had laparoscopic experience is also an area of some debate. © 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.