Episode 2193 - June 30 - Tiếng Anh - Phần 2 của 2 - Thế hệ tiếp theo của Robot phẫu thuật - Vina Technology at AI time - Lê Quang Văn | Podcast - Nhac.vn

The next generation of Robotic surgeons are arriving – Part 2 of 2

What is "humanity" anyway?

An image of a robotic arm, not a hand, conducting a non-invasive surgery procedure in dim light in an artistic faded style

What does a robotic surgeon bring to the operating table?

Since robotic-assisted surgeries are in many ways upgraded laparoscopic surgeries, they inherit many of their benefits. They don’t need large incisions. Instead, they require only a few small holes, called ports, through which the instruments and camera are inserted into the body. This makes the recovery and healing process quicker, allowing patients to leave the hospital sooner. Patients returning faster to their normal life benefit hospitals, too, as it increases the hospital’s efficiency and reduces waiting times for procedures.

Surgeons also benefit from using surgical robots. Operations performed with these robots are less fatiguing. Instead of standing for hours and hunching over the patient, the surgeon can comfortably sit while operating the robot. The less physically demanding the procedures are, the lower the chances of mistakes. Moreover, thanks to better visualisation tools, surgeons can access more information about the surgery and the patient, such as 3D visualisations. Future surgical robots could be equipped with image recognition and built-in machine-learning algorithms to analyse in real-time the surgery and provide even more information to the surgeon.

Another benefit for surgeons is the increased precision provided by the sophisticated tools attached to the robotic arms. These tools, significantly smaller than traditional surgical instruments, offer a greater range of motion, and the robot can translate the surgeon's controls into precise movements in tight spaces within the body. Furthermore, as is the case with the introduction of new tools in any field, new surgical techniques could emerge that would be challenging or impossible to perform without a surgical robot. An example here is Neuralink’s surgical robot designed to insert electrodes thinner than a human hair for their brain-computer interface. The Neuralink team concluded that no human neurosurgeon is capable of manipulating those thin electrodes so they made a robot.

Additionally, robotic surgeons open the possibility of conducting remote surgeries. Remote surgeries are possible, but the biggest challenge preventing them from becoming common is network speeds. These kinds of procedures require ultra-fast networks with as low lag as possible. As networks become faster and more reliable, the prospect of remote surgeries becoming a common practice draws closer to reality. Such procedures can allow world-class specialists to perform surgeries in any place in the world from the comfort of their hospital, opening access to top surgeons to more patients, no matter where they are located.

Are we close to autonomous robotic surgeons?

Short answer, no. We are far away from autonomous robotic surgeons.

None of the currently available robotic surgeons are fully autonomous. Robots like Da Vinci are directly controlled by surgeons all the time. Some medical robots, such as the CyberKnife, a robotic system designed for radiotherapy, are to some degree autonomous but still require human supervision.

Creating a fully autonomous robotic surgeon is the Holy Grail of the field, yet there is no indication of such robots arriving anytime soon. The ability to autonomously perform a complex operation is an enormous challenge for robotics engineers. It is more likely that simpler aspects of surgical procedures will be automated first, such as suturing wounds, leaving the surgeon to focus on the main procedure.

There are research projects pushing towards the vision of a fully autonomous surgical robot. An example here is STAR, a surgical robot developed at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), which successfully performed an almost autonomous keyhole surgery on a pig. Almost, because STAR needed some help