In 2010, hundreds of thousands of patients chose to have robotic surgery for a wide range of conditions, including urologic, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, head-neck and cardiothoracic procedures. And that number is certain to rise sharply in 2011, as it has every year for the better part of a decade.


Talk to just a few of these patients, and you’ll quickly understand the growing appeal of this surgical approach. Men and women alike speak of waking up the morning after their procedure to find they require little or no pain medicine. They mention how their scars are barely noticeable, and how surprised family and friends were to find them up and about the house just a few days after returning home. At the same time, you’ll also hear about effective outcomes—tumors removed with no traces of cancer left behind, painful urinary conditions successfully repaired, hysterectomies and myemectomies performed swiftly with minimal after-effects.


All of these positive results are made possible by a technology that has grown steadily more sophisticated and powerful. Today’s state-of-the-art surgical robot, the da Vinci Si (manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, Inc.), puts an impressive array of capabilities in the surgeon’s hands—including a high-definition camera that provides a magnified 3-D view of the surgical site (compared to the two-dimensional screen surgeons use when performing laparoscopic surgery), three instrument arms that the surgeon operates with fingertip precision, a damping system that eliminates hand tremors, and an image-overlay technology that lets the surgeon project a diagnostic scan of the surgical site directly alongside the actual image of the operation in progress.


These benefits come into sharp focus when you speak with the da Vinci’s other important user group—the robotic surgeons themselves. The robot’s precise movements and ultra-clear view of the operating field, the “extra hand” provided by the robot’s third instrument arm, foot pedals that et the surgeon quickly shift from one miniaturized surgical device to another, the “endo-wrists” that rotate through 520 degrees, and the ergonomically designed console—all empower surgeons to do highly complex procedures with unparalleled ease. It’s no surprise that a growing number of surgeons, from newly minted residents to long-time veterans of the OR, are asking to be trained on the da Vinci.


Equally important is the fact that robotic surgery is minimally invasive. The da Vinci’s instrument arms and camera require only the smallest of incisions—just 1 or 2 centimeters each, large enough to introduce a “port” (a hollow tube that the instruments are then inserted through), but small enough to be closed with just a few stitches, once the operation is completed. These small incisions result in significantly less post-operative pain and scarring and a faster overall recovery—often just 2 to 3 weeks, compared to 6 weeks or more for many open surgical procedures, which require much larger incisions—typically several inches in length or more.
 

While laparoscopic surgery, which is also minimally invasive, has similar trauma-sparing benefits, the da Vinci’s improved visibility and direct manipulation of instruments allows surgeons to perform complex procedures like radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland) or partial nephrectomy (removal of a kidney tumor while leaving the rest of the kidney intact) that are tedious and much more difficult to do using laparoscopic surgery—with the result that only a handful of surgeons have been willing to perform them laparoscopically. With robotic surgery, minimally-invasive versions of these procedures are now being done routinely.


The ultimate proof of robotic surgery’s value lies in the growing body of evidence demonstrating its effectiveness. To cite just two recent examples: In one study published in October 2010, 87% of men undergoing robotic prostatectomy for prostate cancer were cancer-free five years later. And in another study published in December, it was found that robotic surgery to remove tumors of the upper airway and digestive tract, which has already been shown to result in fewer post-operative swallowing problems then open surgery, also yields an 86% two-year survival rate—equivalent to that of open procedures.