In July, the FDA cleared another device, the Da Vinci Surgical System, for marketing. The surgeon uses hand grips and foot pedals on the console to control three robotic arms that perform the surgery using a variety of surgical tools. This reduces problems with dislocation as well as reducing patient pain and recovery time. The hand tools used by surgeons in conventional approaches are difficult to use precisely. The system has not been cleared for marketing in the U.S., but has been approved in several European countries.
Many more robots are likely to follow.
Their development will be inextricably bound with the development of computer planning and imaging tools, as well as other applications, such as telemedicine. Much more information about computer-aided surgery is available on the Web. Yvonne Carts-Powell, based in Boston, writes about optoelectronics and the Internet.