Technology and robotics is something more and more common within society. Even seeing technology of these characteristics in places where error is not allowed, such as an operating room. Robots that help surgeons perform operations are becoming relatively normal.
Robotic surgery can only be used for certain operations. For example, its use is not recommended in cranial, cervical or cardiothoracic surgeries since these are the ones that present the greatest danger. In fact, between 2000 and 2013 in the United States 144 people died as a result of the negligence of these machines.
The most famous surgical robot today is the famous Da Vinci, which was born in 1999 and has gradually been implemented all over the world, with almost 5000 teams of this robot distributed throughout the world.
Is robotic surgery safe?
However, it is not clear that robots should be used during surgery, according to researchers at the University of Texas. According to one study, these researchers studied 50 different controlled trials involving more than 4,800 patients to assess the quality of surgery performed by a robot compared to open surgery or laparoscopy (an operation where a small flexible tube with light is inserted and camera through the abdomen to observe it)
After reviewing these studies, it was concluded that operations performed by robots did not represent a clear advantage over surgeries performed by physicians. This is due to intraoperative complications, conversion rates to open surgery, and long-term results.
In addition, operations carried out by robots involve a large amount of cost , reaching amounts of 1.5 million dollars, without taking into account other costs such as maintenance or training of people to use robots.
More disadvantages than advantages
But the great economic cost is not the only reason why researchers believe that it is not necessary to continue doing operations with robots, but that another factor to take into account is time. Robots were found to take longer to complete operations than surgeons in a standard operation.
Therefore, according to these data, the researchers believe that the use of robots is inappropriate within a surgical context, since it is not profitable and there is no automation for these machines. In fact, the researchers say that robots work better if they are controlled by humans instead of working automatically.
Although at present there are no clear advantages that favor the use of robots in surgeries, that does not mean that in the future this technology will improve , optimize and reduce costs and have the potential to improve clinical results.