Driven by the needs of surgeons to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, as well as the rapid advances in sensor and artificial intelligence technologies, robot manufacturers are developing medical robots with improved functionality for a variety of uses, including minimally invasive surgeries. Robotic systems already provide a wide range of services in healthcare, including surgical assistance, patient rehabilitation, cleaning and sterilization, dispensing drugs, and remote diagnosis. We can expect many more of the soon.

Robots and devices helping doctors in surgeries. Let’s get in details about entire process.

Robotic Surgery:

Robotic surgery is a method to perform surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm. The surgeon controls the robotic arm with a computer.

Description:

You will be given general anesthesia so that you are asleep and pain-free.

The surgeon sits at a computer station and directs the movements of a robot. Small surgical tools are attached to the robot’s arms.

• The surgeon makes small cuts to insert the instruments into your body.
• A thin tube with a camera attached to the end of it (endoscope) allows the surgeon to view enlarged 3-D images of your body as the surgery is taking place.
• The robot matches the doctor’s hand movements to perform the procedure using the tiny instruments.

Why the Procedure is performed?

Robotic surgery is similar to laparoscopic surgery. It can be performed through smaller cuts than open surgery. The small, precise movements that are possible with this type of surgery give it some advantages over standard endoscopic techniques. The surgeon can make small, precise movements using this method. This can allow the surgeon to do a procedure through a small cut that once could be done only with open surgery. Once the robotic arm is placed in the abdomen, it is easier for the surgeon to use the surgical tools than with laparoscopic surgery through an endoscope. The surgeon can also see the area where the surgery is performed more easily. This method lets the surgeon move in a more comfortable way, as well. Robotic surgery can take longer to perform. This is due to the amount of time needed to set up the robot. Also, some hospitals may not have access to this method. However it is becoming more common.

Robotic surgery may be used for a number of different procedures, including:

• Coronary artery bypass
• Cutting away cancer tissue from sensitive parts of the body such as blood vessels, nerves, or important body organs
• Gallbladder removal
•  Hip replacement 
•  Hysterectomy   
•  Total or partial kidney removal  
• Kidney transplant
• Mitral valve repair
• Pyelopasty (surgery to correct ureteropelvic junction obstruction)            
• Radical cystectomy
• Tubal ligation

Robotic surgery cannot always be used or be the best method of surgery.

Risks:

The risks for any anesthesia and surgery include:

• Reactions to medicines
• Breathing problems
• Bleeding
• Infection

Robotic surgery has as many risks as open and laparoscopic surgery. However, the risks are different.

Before the Procedure:

You cannot have any food or fluid for 8 hours before the surgery.

You may need to cleanse your bowels with an enema or laxative the day before surgery for some types of procedures.

Stop taking aspirin, blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin) or Plavix, anti-inflammatory medicines, vitamins, or other supplements 10 days before the procedure.

After the Procedure:

You will be taken to a recovery room after the procedure. Depending on the type of surgery performed, you may have to stay in the hospital overnight or for a couple of days.

You should be able to walk within a day after the procedure. How soon you are active will depend on the surgery that was done.

Avoid heavy lifting or straining until your doctor gives you the OK. Your doctor may tell you not to drive for at least a week.

Outlook:

Surgical cuts are smaller than with traditional open surgery. Benefits include:

• Faster recovery
• Less pain and bleeding
• Less risk for infection
• Shorter hospital stay
• Smaller scars

Below are six innovative robot healthcare applications that improve patient outcomes and reduce the stress load on busy healthcare practitioners.

1. Senior care

An increasing number of hospitals and facilities use robots to assist with patient care and treatment. Mobile robots assist with transport tasks or guide people to their destinations. Personalized, pet-like robots such as “Paro” help alleviate loneliness and create a sense of purpose. Companion robots use AI algorithms that allow them to react to behavior patterns and proactively engage with patients and residents.

2.  Exoskeletons  

Exoskeletons are robotic devices that range from prosthetic body parts to full suits that help paralyzed people walk. ReWalk, for example, is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that is strapped to the body and provides powered hip and knee motion that enables individuals with severe spinal cord injuries to walk upright, turn, and even climb and descend stairs. It may also be possible that exoskeletons can help restore normal motor function by retraining the damaged nervous system itself.

3. Needle insertion

Veebot Systems has created a robot that can draw a blood sample in about one minute. The technology combines medical imaging, computer vision, and machine learning to identify the best target insertion site, determine depth to the target underneath the skin, and insert the needle. Veebot identifies the best target vein nearly 85 percent of the time—about the same as an experienced human phlebotomist.

4. Colonoscopy

Although colonoscopies are considered routine procedures, they are often uncomfortable and can result in serious side effects and even death if the intestinal wall is punctured. Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a robotic system that can conduct a standard colonoscopy procedure with fewer side effects. An electronic capsule robot examines the colon internally, guided by magnets outside the body. The capsule robot can also perform biopsies, polyp removal and retrieve tissue samples.

5. Bone surgery

Developed by AOT AG, the CARLO (Cold Ablation Robot-guided Laser Osteotome) is a robot arm that performs laser bone ablation—the surgical removal of a section of diseased bone. Using advanced navigation and control software, the device allows surgeons to perform bone operations with unprecedented precision and in freely defined, curved and functional sectional configurations, which cannot be done with conventional instruments.

6. Nanobots

Researchers are hard at work developing cell-sized robots that can flow through the bloodstream and carry out life-saving tasks such as attacking cancer cells with payloads of cancer-killing drugs, removing blockages from arteries, or performing tissue biopsies. These microscale or nanoscale robotsare far less likely to cause large-scale side effects that often result from conventional medical treatments like chemotherapy.

Recent successes in this field include autonomous microrobots propelled by hydrogen microbubbles that have treated gastric bacterial infections in mice. Last year, scientists from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNT) in China and Arizona State University developed microrobots only a few hundred nanometers across that, when injected into mice, shrunk their tumors by cutting off their blood supply.