History of Robotic Surgery Academic

Robotic Surgery and Urological Surgeries

Robotic surgery was first performed by researchers working at the NASA Research Center, mechanical engineers studying the virtual reality system, and robotic technology experts working at the Stanford University Research Center in California, USA. The da Vinci System, whose prototype was revealed in 1997, was first tried with robotic cholecysectomy (gallbladder surgery). It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000 and began to be used first in cardiovascular surgery, and then widely in urology, general surgery and gynecology. In recent years, a large percentage of surgeries in developed countries have begun to be performed robotically. 80 percent of prostate surgeries performed in the United States in 2009 were performed with the da Vinci robot.

Robotic Surgery System is basically a closed surgery technique. The system, which allows the surgeon to perform the operation with the least possible incision, is a laparoscopic surgery system with a superior three-dimensional image and advanced technology, with very high mobility and very thin and sensitive instruments. The ends of the robot's arms are connected to metal or plastic structures called trocars, which are opened in the patient's abdomen during urology surgeries and placed into the abdomen through 4 or 5 holes varying in size between 8 mm and 12 mm.

The surgeon performs the surgery by sitting at the control panel (console) where he performs the surgery, controlling all robot arms without touching the patient.

A 3D robotic lens (3D-HD) is connected to one of these arms. This three-dimensional lens is the basic device that creates the image. The image is transferred in 3D to the surgeon performing the surgery. Therefore, the depth of the tissues is clearly presented to the surgeon. This feature is not available in laparoscopy; the image provided in laparoscopy is 2-dimensional. Therefore, there is no feeling of depth in laparoscopy. The robotic 3D lens provides magnification of at least 10 times. Thus, the surgeon performing the surgery can enlarge the details of the tissues and see them much better and perform the surgery.

Robotic surgical tools are attached to the ends of the other 3 arms of the robot, which enable the surgeon to perform the surgery (for example, scissors and tissue holders). The tips of these instruments are very gentle and smooth, and they make the same movement as the surgeon's hand.

The surgeon controls the surgical instruments attached to the end of the robot's arms with a computer-controlled mechanism that he controls by attaching the fingers of both hands in the console area. This special mechanism does not reflect any tremors in the surgeon's hand to the operating area and allows the ends of the robot's arms to rotate 540 degrees.