Robotic surgery is a technique used in our country for approximately 10 years that helps surgeons carry out complex procedures in a more precise and controlled way. In traditional techniques the surgeon and the assistants are in direct contact with the patient, and this process causes both the incisions made in the operations to be deeper and larger and disadvantages linked to the sensitivity of the hand to arise. Robotic surgery, on the other hand, thanks to the instruments used in the process, makes it possible to perform far more precise movements in quite narrow areas, and so it becomes possible to obtain more controlled results.
Misconception 1: Robots Perform the Operation!
With technological developments, people’s view of technology is changing rapidly. Although, with the success rate achieved by diagnostic programmes using artificial intelligence and the advances in medical technologies, robotic surgery is quite popular, there is a great deal of incorrect information known about the process. When robotic surgery is mentioned, the image of a robot performing the operation comes to life in the eyes of patients and their relatives. Even though robotic technologies are very advanced, the idea that there would be no intervention by a human doctor is for now not very acceptable to patients and their relatives. However, contrary to this information, the human influence in robotic surgery applications is far greater than is thought. First of all, it needs to be known that all the control is with the surgeon. In the process, the surgeon can perform the operation with far more precise movements by using the instruments they will use during the operation not with their hands but with the robot’s hands.
Misconception 2: Is Artificial Intelligence Used in the Operation!
One of the pieces of incorrect information about robotic surgery is the belief that artificial intelligence is used in the operation and that the surgeon’s involvement is limited only to using the robot. The system used in robotic surgery, called the da Vinci Robot, works absolutely under the surgeon’s control and cannot make a movement outside the surgeon’s wish. In other words, the robot definitely has no chance of deciding and moving by itself.
Misconception 3: The Patient Is Left Alone in Robotic Surgery Applications!
One of the misconceptions most believed to be true about robotic surgery applications is that the patient is left alone during the process. Throughout every operation the whole team, from the anaesthetist to the assistant, is present beside the patient. Whether the operation is classic or robotic definitely does not change this. Besides the surgeon using the da Vinci Robot, another surgeon or an assistant is also beside the patient, helping to make the process far more controlled. The assistant, the nurse and so on, that is, all the members of the team, are in constant communication with one another.