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Insider’s Opinion
C
omputer Assisted Surgery aims to improve
patient care by the utilization of computer based
technologies during the procedure; to amplify the
benefits; to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration
between engineers and physicians in developing new
concepts and applications. The scope of Computer
Assisted Surgery encompasses all major fields within
surgery, as well as biomedical imaging and instrumentation,
and digital technology employed as a supplement to
imaging in diagnosis, therapeutics, and surgery.
Surgical Precision
Surgery is a distressing experience at best. Medical robotics
and CAS (Computer Assisted Surgery) helps alleviate the
problem. They have been used in a wide variety of fields
from head and neck to urologic surgery. They provide
greater reach and flexibility, smaller incisions made with
more precision which is enough to access the targeted
anatomy. This results in more accurate pre-operative
planning, reduction of operating time, avoiding damage to
healthy tissues, exact alignment of surgical instruments
with anatomy and faster patient recovery. It’s an established
fact about the benefit of these technologies & ever
increasing uses support the fact.
Revolution
In recent years there has been a definite shift to the use of
minimally-invasive techniques, performed by steering
surgical tools through small incisions in the patient’s skin in
order to minimize blood loss and soft tissue damage, and
consequently, reduce postoperative pain and recovery time.
There are CAS technologies which work on CT/MRI
images of patient to guide in real time. These are used
mostly in Brain, ENT & Spine surgeries. Some CAS
technologies which uses ultrasound are being used in soft
tissue biopsies for liver, lungs & breasts. Also there are
technologies which are image-less. These are used in Knee,
Hip implants surgeries.
These technologies made the complex surgeries safer & less
pain full. Now for e.g. in brain surgeries surgeons can plan
the surgery on computer generated 3D model of the patient
by marking areas of interest & danger areas. During surgery
system then guides the surgeon to reach area of interest &
alerting the surgeon if he is operating near any danger
region. It gives confidence to the surgeon on more
aggressive on the tumor & still gentle to any critical part of
December 2017
the brain following the shortest and safest path. Medical
robots are also getting developed to perform various part of
brain surgery to take the brain surgery to next dimension.
Similarly in the spine surgery the misplacement of spine
screw is quite common. Misplaced screw can cause
permanent damage to nervous system. With the help of
CAS rate of misplacement has been significantly reduced
make it safer for the patients. Various standard reviews have
bespoken the superiority of CAS technique compared to
others for pedicle screw placement. Accuracy rates of
around 95% are commonly reported with CAS which is
quite high when compared to free-hand techniques. Also it
helps to reduce the harmful X-ray radiation dosage for
operating team and the patient.
Robotic surgeries are growing at very rapid rate. Robots are
performing surgeries which require dexterity which can't be
achieved by human hand. They have tiny wristed
instruments which can bend and rotate more than the
human hands providing greater reach through smaller
incision.
Augment Reality
The recent emerging role and integration of virtual reality
(VR) and augmented reality (AR) in healthcare is
transforming this data rich field and justify consideration
for future applications to enhance the surgical experience.
For e.g. a new technology which augments X-ray vision on
the real patient anatomy to help surgeon plan and execute
the operation effectively. It’s like a superman viewing
through the skin of patient.
Growing Market
The world-wide robotic surgery & CAS market is expected
to reach USD 20.8 billion by 2024 as per a market research,
report. The ubiquity of chronic disorders around the globe
is on a rise. These diseases hence need surgery for the
treatment solution. CAS & Robotic surgeries for these cases
provides minimally invasive approach, fewer
complications, faster recovery, lower pain and blood loss,
thereby propelling the demand over the forecast period.
Computer assisted technologies are rising & becoming
standard of care. Lot of innovations are happening. Future
looks promising once these technologies reaches to masses
& make everyone benefitted from them.
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