With this method, also called the da Vinci robot, the doctor sits at a console from which they will control the robot’s arms. Only the surgeon can control the robot’s arms. Another surgeon standing beside the patient assists the surgeon at the console. In robotic surgery the surgeon gives the robot commands, and the arms on the patient console carry out the operation by reflecting all the commands received from the surgeon exactly and simultaneously. The advantage of robotic surgery is that the surgeon can see the operating area, thanks to the robot’s capabilities, far more clearly and closely than with their own eye, in three dimensions, and becomes less tired because they work seated.
Is It the Robot That Performs the Operation?
One of the questions most often asked of us is the question “in robotic surgery, is it the robot that performs the operations or the surgeon?” Our answer is very clear: of course the surgeon does. The robotic equipment, on the other hand, makes the surgeon’s work extremely easy. In the end, difficult operations can be performed more easily. In robotic surgery it is a computer-assisted system carried out by the surgeon from the surgeon console located beside the patient in the operating theatre, using the arms on the patient console that are modelled on the human wrist. Although, when robotics is mentioned, the first question that comes to mind is “is it a robot that performs the operation?”, it is a surgeon who carries out the operation.
It Eliminates Hand Tremor!
Robotic surgery is a type of minimally invasive surgery. Minimally invasive surgery means operating on the patient, instead of through a large incision, with special surgical instruments inserted through incisions smaller than 1 cm, causing less damage to the surrounding tissues. In robotic surgery there is a camera arm and mechanical arms to which the surgical instruments are attached. The instruments on these arms consist of small tools that have the feature of moving freely in 7 degrees. The tips of these instruments can rotate 540 degrees around their own axis thanks to the system called “endowrist”. Along with this, they can follow the wrist movements of the human hand. In robotic surgery, the instruments do not in any way detect a possible hand tremor during the operation and do not go outside the surgeon’s commands.
It Increases the Chance of Success of the Operations
The surgeon follows the instruments and the camera from a console located in the operating room. In open operations there are situations in which the surgeon’s hand and instruments cannot enter or would damage the surrounding organs. However, with robotic surgery this problem is eliminated. In such situations the robot, working like an artificial hand, transfers the movements of the surgeon’s hand at the console exactly to the inside and increases the chance of success of the operation. Robotic surgery, which has been actively used in Turkey for about 10 years, appears as a method applied on the basis of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Approximately 4,000 robotic surgery systems are used in the world. With the da Vinci robot, close to 4 million operations have been carried out successfully to date. In Turkey there are 34 robotic surgery systems. They are used intensively in public, private and university hospitals.