Patient has prostate removed in world's first all-robotic surgery
By Claire Bates
Last updated at 11:51 AM on 20th October 2010
In a world first medics at Montreal General Hospital used an anesthesia robot, nicknamed McSleepy, to put the patient under. They then employed the DaVinci surgical robot to remotely perform the delicate operation.
Operating room of the future: Doctors performed a prostatectomy using only robots
Specialists at the McGill University Health Centre at the hospital said the all-robotic surgery could deliver the most modern and accurate patient care.
Dr A Aprikian from MUHC, said: 'The DaVinci allows us to work from a workstation operating surgical instruments with delicate movements of our fingers with a precision that cannot be provided by humans alone.'
He and his team of surgeons operated the robotic arms that can rotate 360 degrees from a dedicated workstation via video control with 3D high definition image quality.
They removed part of the patient's prostate gland, which sits at the neck of the urethra and produces the fluid part of semen.
The hospital have been using McSleepy since 2008, and were the first in the world to perform surgery using a totally automated system to knock out patients.
It is a software system that directs infusion pumps in a patient's vein to release specifically timed and measured doses of drugs that induce sleepiness, control pain and relax muscles during an operation.
The computerised system also provides continuous feedback on how the patient is responding to the drugs as surgery progresses, from brainwave patterns and muscle contractions to heart rate and blood pressure readings.
Dr Aprikian conducts tricky surgery remotely using da Vinci. It allows surgeons to perform with far greater precision
DaVinci is a far newer addition and was only put to work this summer but this was the first time the two were combined.
Dr Aprikian said McSleepy helped to create the perfect conditions needed for robotic surgery.
He said: 'Automated anesthesia delivery via McSleepy guarantees the same high quality of care every time it is used, independent from the subjective level of expertise.'
His colleague Dr Thomas Hemmerling said they were still improving the robotic approach. Just last month, researcher Linda van den Bedem from the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven unveiled a robot that used 'force feedback' to allow the surgeon to feel what he or she wa doing.
But Dr Hemmerling said:'Robots in medicine can provide health care of higher safety and precision, thus ultimately improving outcomes.'
The McSleepy software administers the anaesthetic and monitors the patient
However Dr Hemmerling was quick to dismiss the idea that machines would one day rule in hospitals.
'Robots will not replace doctors but help them to perform to the highest standards,' he said.
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