Da Vinci Robot

Surgeons have carried out the first ever robotic open-heart operations in Britain at the New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.The Da Vinci robot is remotely controlled by surgeons who are given a high definition view of the heart through a sophisticated camera. Natalie Jones, of Stourbridge, 22, was the first patient to have the procedure to have a hole in her heart repaired. Doctors claim the operation is safer for patients than conventional surgery.

Image formed in the monitor by the robot 

Normal heart surgery involves cutting open the chest plate, but the robotic arms are inserted by making cuts between the patient's ribs. A surgeon is given a 3D, high-definition view of the heart and can move the arms using a control panel. Each time they move their hand 3mm, the robot arm moves just 1mm.

Mrs Jones had a 3.5cm (1.3in) hole in her heart repaired during surgery which lasted nine hours.Heart surgeon Stephen Billing said: "There is less pain and patients are able to return home to their normal activities far sooner."

Functions

• Radical prostatectomy, pyeloplasty, cystectomy, nephrectomy, ureteral reimplantation;
• Hysterectomy, myomectomy and sacrocolpopexy;
• Cholecystectomy, Nissen fundoplication, Heller myotomy, gastric bypass, donor nephrectomy, adrenalectomy, splenectomy and bowel resection;
• Internal artery a blood vessel mobilization and cardiac tissue ablation;
• Mitral valve repair, endoscopic atrial septal defect closure;
• to left anterior descending coronary artery anastomosis for cardiac revascularization with adjunctive mediastinotomy
• Transoral resection of tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract (tonsil, tongue base, larynx), transaxillary thyroidectomy

Critics Of Da Vinci System

1. Critics of robotic surgery say there is a steep learning curve for surgeons who adopt it, and that there's a lack of studies that indicate long-term results are superior to results following traditional laparoscopic surgery.
2. The Da Vinci system uses a proprietary software, which cannot be modified by physicians, thereby limiting the freedom to modify the operation system