Present TechnologySurgery has been around for thousands of years. Ever since man has felt pain, man has looked to surgery for relief. It started as a crude hole in the skull, and has evolved into techniques involving lasers and robots.
One such cutting-edge present technology that this paper will explore is the da Vinci Surgical Robotic System [1], which is being used at Johns Hopkins [2]. This system performs minimally invasive cardiac surgery; it makes the cuts more precise and saves lives. In the future, robotic surgery will become more advanced, as sensory feedback in the da Vinci system could be a future breakthrough that could revolutionize the whole concept of robotic surgery. We envision an improved da Vinci system, with sensory feedback, very precise laser scalpels, and a fully robotic surgery, which will simply be supervised by the surgeon. This approach would lead to less pain, shorter recovery time and a more precise surgery.
The system consists of a surgeon console, a computerized control system, three arms that hold tools (such as scalpels, scissors, or electrocautery instruments), and a fiber optic camera. The surgeon is seated at a set of controls and looks through two eye holes at a 3-D image of the procedure, while maneuvering the arms with two foot pedals and two hand controllers. The console uses the surgeon's hand motions to move to robotic hands inside the patient's chest cavity. While doing this, the camera gets detailed pictures of the heart and the structures of the heart. This surgical procedure has repaired over 300 mitral valves and over 150 atrial septic defect closures. It is most commonly used for prostatectomies, cardiac valve repair and gynecologic surgical procedures.
However the present technology is quite limited. Modern robotic surgery is still more invasive then we'd like. Also, the...