Doctors performing complicated surgeries can now take the assistance of a surgical robot to reach ‘difficult areas’ in the human body and perform them with robotic arms. Magnified views of the damaged tissue and very fine instruments to access to them are added advantages in robotic surgery.
The da Vinci surgical system, developed by the U.S.-based Intuitive Surgical Inc., and distributed by Vattikuti Technologies, has been used across the U.S. and Europe during the past six years.
The surgical robot is already being used for about a month now at the Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Research Institute and Hospital in Visakhapatnam and at a few hospitals in Hyderabad in Telangana and over 50 hospitals in India.
The roving surgical robot has been taken on a tour of hospitals in four cities in Andhra Pradesh, starting with Visakhapatnam on Friday. It would be displayed in Rajahmundry and Vijayawada and finally in Tirupati on September 3.
Superior performance
The robot, mounted on a special platform, was stationed outside Care Hospitals at Ramnagar in the city on Thursday. The system has four robotic arms, a console, with three-dimensional, enhanced high-definition vision, and up to 10 times magnification, offers a better view of the operative field unlike in other surgical methods like traditional open surgery and laparoscopy.
The four flexible robotic arms are controlled by the surgeon, sitting at the console, and sending the right instrument through tiny incisions made on the body, to remove or repair the damaged tissue.
“Robotic surgery is being used in many gynaecological cancers, head, neck and thoracic surgery, removal of organs such as the kidney, liver, pancreas and even in organ transplants,” M. Kiran Kumar, a representative of Vattikuti Technologies, said.
“The roving robot will help surgeons experience the capabilities of a da Vinci surgical robot in removing cancerous tissue while retaining healthy tissue,” according to Gopal Chakravarthy, CEO of Vattikuti Technologies.
The robot will be stationed at the Apollo Health City Hospital on August 19 and at Pinnacle Hospital on Aug. 21 and 22, both located at Health City in Visakhapatnam.
It will be showcased at the GSL Medical College in Rajahmundry on Aug. 26, Prashant Hospital on Aug. 28, Aayush Hospital on Aug. 29 and Ramesh Hospital on Aug. 30 (all three in Vijayawada) and at Svims in Tirupati on September 2 and 3.
