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Robotic Surgery

Robotic Surgery

December 14, 2021
Emily Cassidy, MD
Emily Cassidy, MD

Cardiothoracic Surgery

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Transcript

Robotics has taken a strong hold in the thoracic world, like it has in a whole lot of other surgical specialties. So again, we’re able to do robotic surgery through similar small incisions, a long skinny camera. The instruments are what is really different between VATS and robotic. So the instruments for VAT surgery are straight, and they’re held by the surgeon themselves at the bedside.

 

Robotic instruments are wristed, meaning that they’re able to move like this, just like our wrists are. Instead of the surgeon being at the bedside, holding those instruments with their own hands, they’re sitting at a console in the room, but away from the patient’s bed and using a controller to move those instruments in a similar way that their hands move, if their hands were inside of the chest.

 

Key Takeaways

1. Robotics has taken a strong hold in the thoracic world.

2. We’re able to do robotic surgery through small incisions.

3. The instruments for VAT surgery are straight while robotic instruments are wristed.

4. Instead of the surgeon being at the bedside, holding instruments with their own hands, they’re sitting at a console in the room and using a controller to move the instruments.