Advances in 21st Century surgical technique have given the medical sciences more efficient methods to cure patients and help those in need. The best evidence of this new dawn of medical science is in the field of robotics.
Surgical robots seek to extend and enhance the capabilities of human surgeons beyond the range of traditional laparoscopic procedures. The concepts of minimally invasive surgery began in 1987 and since then, the list of procedures performed laparoscopically has grown exponentially.
The reason for this growth is that the advantages of minimally invasive surgery are manifold and have grown in popularity among surgeons as well as patients. Generally, with robotic procedures the incisions are smaller and the risk of infection is dramatically reduced.
In turn, hospital stays are shorter and time of convalescence is therefore shortened. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness, many studies have illustrated that these types of procedures result in decreased hospital stays, a faster return to the workforce, and decreased pain.
Robotic surgery, especially in the field of urology, has become a choice procedure in the United States. It has been proven most effective for the treatment of prostate cancer due to difficult anatomical access. Robotic surgery is also heavily used to treat kidney cancer and diseases of the bladder.
Robotic surgery has also found a home with many other surgical specialties such as the treatment of urinary incontinence, benign and malignant tumors, infertility, the treatment of heart disease, as well as plastic and reconstructive surgery.
These robotic surgery systems have helped thousands of patients recover quickly from minimally invasive procedures that otherwise may have taken longer both on the table and in hospital recovery.
