| Outcome/accomplishment:
Researchers and physicians are working together to perfect leading-edge
robotic surgical tools. The robotic tools allow doctors to perform
intricate work while requiring much smaller incisions than conventional
surgery does.
Impact/benefits:
For patients, these tools mean less invasive procedures. For surgeons,
the robotic tools simultaneously make their jobs easier and provide for
capabilities that were previously impossible.
Explanation/ background:
At the Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems
and Technology (ERC CISST), based at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
MD, researchers are developing robots that could revolutionize surgery
as we know it. One of the robots at the Center, the daVinci, allows
its surgeon operator to perform delicate, precision procedures while seated
across the room from the patient.
By manipulating a pair of
articulated hand controls, a doctor can remotely guide the movements of
da Vinci's instruments through small incisions in the patient. Heart
surgery, eye surgery, and other procedures that require exacting precision
and dexterity stand to benefit from the enhanced control enabled by da
Vinci and similar tools. Researchers' aim with these surgical robots
is to combine the superior physical capability of machines with the judgment
of experienced surgeons.
Center director Dr. Russ
Taylor says that as such technology becomes more widely available, the
result will be improved consistency, accuracy, and safety of existing surgical
methods, plus the pioneering of a new world of treatments. |
