One of the most astonishing – and yet increasingly commonplace – aspects of modern medicine is the use of surgery robots: machines that theoretically allow doctors to operate through a computer console with precision and minimal invasion of the body. Physicians at McGill University Health Centre say they have advanced the idea, performing their first surgery where anesthesia – as well as the actual operating – was also handled by a robot. Together the cyber surgeons removed a patient’s prostate.
The robot surgery system allows doctors to operate with an exactitude that would not be possible in the traditional way, said Dr. A. Aprikian, an MUHC urologist in a statement released by the hospital. Delivering anasthesia the old-fashioned way during a robot operation can be tricky, but the new “McSleepy” anesthesia robot offers makes the anethesitist’s performance more precise and consistent, said Dr. Thomas Hemmerling, also of MUHC.
Are the benefits of the impressive technology really worth the considerable expense, however? A paper in the Canadian Urological Association Journal last year noted that the all-in cost per prostate removal is about $3,800 by robot, compared to $450 for a conventional prostatectomy. There have also been no controlled clinical trials comparing the different surgery methods, but the author of the paper – an Edmonton urologist – said that case studies (a less rigorous kind of research) suggest that patients do better and recover faster, meaning the cost can be justified.