Can Minimally Invasive Surgery Revolutionize Healthcare?

MedTech Outlook | Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Minimally invasive surgery promises faster recoveries, less pain, and reduced ‘collateral’ damage to healthy parts of the body and fewer complications, therefore reducing costs and improving outcomes.

FREMONT CA: In numerous cases, benefits haven’t been realized as quickly as promised, with several drawbacks limiting the effectiveness of minimally invasive surgery. One limitation is the control, and the precision surgeons have during the procedure. Because of the small size of the incision and remote manipulation tools, surgeons have very little room to operate, needing additional training and experience to increase the surgery times and reduce complications. Therefore here are three technologies that will help in revolutionizing minimally invasive surgery.

Robotic-Assisted Surgery

The potential for robotic-assisted surgery was understood nearly two decades ago. It is a fact that implementing robotics in the operating room demands a lot of work. With the help of a control panel and screen, surgeons can direct da Vinci’s robotic arms, attached with surgical tools, to conduct some procedures. The core benefit of the system is its ability to offer better control and precision.

It is predicted that in the future, robots will do the ‘mechanical’ setup for the surgery, correctly positioning the tools in the patient’s body. Robotic surgery will also be used in devices remotely. This possibility can open up access to high-quality surgeries to millions of people.

Real-Time Imaging

Fluoroscopy is the present imaging gold standard for minimally invasive surgery. An alternative option is to use tiny cameras mounted on the end of tube devices, which can be inserted by hand, together with the surgical tools, in case the surgery is not inside a vessel full of blood.

Both of these imaging solutions lack in quality. The human eyes and brain have not yet evolved to interpret these kinds of mediocre images intuitively. Using them can be incredibly tiring for the surgeon, as well as increase the surgery length, which might lead to mistakes. What the surgeons need is imaging that works with natural human perception.

Predictive Modeling and AI 

In human beings, intuition is the brain’s way of managing overwhelming amounts of data. The more experienced a surgeon is, the higher their training and experience, and the better is their surgical intuition. However, in the age of informatics, it is now possible to collect, analyze, and share that data, that experience, that can help the surgeons make better decisions in real-time.