Robotic surgery offers amazing benefits to cancer patients: Study
January 13th, 2011 - 5:38 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Jan 13 (ANI): Contrary to Isaac Asimov and other 20th century science fiction writers, who predicted that people would react to robots with fear and loathing, it seems patients today are the most enthusiastic boosters of robotic surgery.
Researchers at the Jewish General Hospital’s Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research in Montreal have revealed that robot-assisted surgery has tremendous benefits for patients with uterine, endometrial, and cervical cancer.
They also said that robotic procedures were comparatively less expensive because of fewer post-operative complications and shorter hospital stays.
Till date, adoption of robotic surgery has been slowed by fears that it will raise overall healthcare costs. In Canada, robotic procedures are not yet covered by any provincial healthcare plan.
“To the contrary, robotic surgery definitely benefits patients and society,” said Walter H. Gotlieb.
“The patient’s quality of life is dramatically improved, their hospital stays are much shorter and they use far less narcotic pain medication. The majority of our patients need nothing stronger than Tylenol,” he added.
In a robot-assisted operating room, the physician sits at a computer console and manipulates multiple robot arms, rather than working directly on the patient.
The technology was developed to overcome the limitations of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), including such notoriously difficult procedures as laparoscopy for cancer.
“Laparoscopy is the gold standard of treatment for endometrial cancer, but unfortunately the learning curve is too steep for most surgeons,” said Gotlieb.
“At the Jewish General Hospital, we went from only 15 percent of our endometrial cancer patients benefiting from MIS by laparoscopy to 95 percent using robotic surgery. In cervical cancer we did not perform MIS at all before, whereas now all of our patients benefit from it,” he added.
The results have been published in The Journal of Robotic Surgery and The International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. (ANI)
- Robot-assisted surgery to remove cancerous prostate glands is safe - Mar 24, 2011
- Mumbai hospital gets advanced surgical robot (With Images) - Jul 07, 2011
- Now, a robotic way to hassle-free surgeries - May 21, 2012
- India to get first robotic training centre for doctors - Jan 14, 2012
- New robotic head and neck cancer surgery preserves speech sans scarring - Sep 08, 2010
- Robotic surgery feasible in removal of tumours - Apr 24, 2009
- Now, remove uterine fibroids the painless way - Jul 06, 2010
- Hysterectomy via keyhole surgery is best: Study - Jul 18, 2010
- Khurshid stresses on health insurance - Nov 02, 2011
- Robot-assisted surgery effective for kidney patients - Feb 22, 2010
- Gujarat hospital becomes first to acquire latest robot for urological surgeries - Sep 27, 2010
- AIIMS doctor pilots India's first robot-assisted surgery (Feature, With Images) - May 06, 2010
- Endometrial cancer gene identified - Apr 18, 2011
- AIIMS robot performs rare cancer surgery - Apr 19, 2010
- Delhi hospital conducts life-saving robotic surgeries - Apr 20, 2012
Tags: cancer patients, century science, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, fear and loathing, gold standard, gotlieb, healthcare costs, healthcare plan, invasive surgery, isaac asimov, jewish general hospital, lady davis institute, laparoscopy, learning curve, narcotic pain medication, post operative complications, robot arms, robotic surgery, science fiction writers