Big Incisions to Robotics: What Next?
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Early phrase - Big Surgeons give Big Incision. This has been replaced with “An era of the minimally invasive surgery to Robotics.” Historically, the surgeons started with bigger incisions and switched to smaller ones to access the diseased area for better cosmesis, reducing postoperative pain and complications. Subsequently came the era of minimally invasive surgery. Laparoscopic surgery, or keyhole surgery, involves creating multiple small holes to insert instruments into the abdominal cavity. This reduced infection promoted early recovery and minimized blood loss, with an improved early return to work, thus saving family and national resources. Improvement of laparoscopic surgery is ROBOTICS ERA, in which surgeons operate through the Console, taking advantage of higher precision and better resolution (three-dimensional). The robot can not only reach places inaccessible to surgeon’s hands and laparoscopic surgery but is also free from tremors. The next development is artificial intelligence (AI). It is the term used to define the use of computers and technology to simulate intelligent behaviour and critical thinking comparable to a human being. AI and robotics use information and patient data for various tasks such as monitoring patient physical and mental alertness, basic physical interferences, diagnosis, and planning of surgeries to improve patient independence during physical or cognitive deterioration. AI and machine learning aid in surgical decision-making by refining the recognition of minute and complex anatomical structures. All these advancements have led to faster recovery and fewer complications in patients. Nevertheless, with future advancements such as AI-driven automation, nanorobots, microscopic incision surgeries, semi-automated telerobotic systems, and the impact of 5G connectivity on remote surgery, the growth curve of robotic surgery points to innovation. It stands as a testament to the persistent pursuit of progress in healthcare. In an emergency care setting, where triage decisions can result in the existence or death of a person, there is a natural unwillingness to entrust such decisions to machines. However, AI could assist an emergency technician or doctor as a predictor of outcomes. These advances are causing an uprising in health care, enabling it to become proactive as called upon by the concept of P5 medicine – A predictive, personalized, preventive, participatory, and precision discipline. AI can help interpret personal health information and other data to stratify diseases and predict, stop, or treat their progression. An emergency room triage of patients (2017 study) with acute abdominal pain only revealed an “acceptable level of accuracy,” but recently, the Mayo Clinic presented an AI-based “digital triage platform” from Diagnostic Robotics to “perform clinical intake of patients and suggest diagnoses and hospital risk scores.” A website or a smartphone app can now deliver these solutions and have evolved from decision trees designed by doctors to incorporate AI. Robotic systems can be used inside or outside the body. Those applied inside the body include microrobots, surgical robots, and interventional robots. Microrobots are sub-millimeter untethered devices that chemical reactions or physical fields can propel. They can move unhindered through the body and achieve tasks such as targeted therapy (localized delivery of drugs). Microrobots can assist in physical surgery by drilling through a blood clot or opening up obstructions in the urinary tract to reestablish normal flow. They can deliver directed local tissue heating to destroy the cancer cells. They can be implanted to provide continuous remote monitoring and early alertness of a developing disease. Robotic prostheses, orthoses, and exoskeletons are the examples of robotic systems worn on the body. Exoskeletons are wearable robotic systems tightly coupled with a human body to assist or enhance the wearer’s physical capabilities. While they have often been established for applications outside of health care, they can aid workers with physically demanding tasks such as moving patients or assisting people with muscle weakness or movement disorders. Wearable technology can also measure and transmit vital signs or physical activity data. Robotic systems applied externally on the body can help evade direct contact when treating patients with infectious diseases and assist in surgery (as already mentioned), including remote surgical procedures that influence augmented reality or assist providers when moving patients [Figure 1].Figure 1: Data
Source: Haryana Journal of Surgery
DOI: 10.4103/hjs.hjs_4_25
Author: Sunder Goyal
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409441720