Human Surgeon Questions Robotic Surgery

We're beginning an investigation of robotic surgery here on WiSci. I'm interested in hearing about experiences that our readers have had with robotic surgery, as a surgeon, student, or patient. Feel free to post or email me.

In the past, we've reported quite positively about the impacts and potential impacts of using robots in surgery. Wired Science TV recently ran some excitable coverage too. But some surgeons believe that the product doesn't live up to the hype. One I spoke with recently was particularly critical of their use in heart surgery.

E. William Schneeberger, who I spoke with for my story on medical device design, happened to be at Ohio State University with Dr. Robert Michler when the first cardiac surgeries in the US were being completed with the da Vinci Surgical Systems. He questioned its efficacy:

I spent a lot of time in the lab honing my skills on the machine. Unfortunately, after spending many, many, many hours with the machines, I don’t think it’s quite where we need it to be with cardiac surgery at the moment.

Pop across the jump for more of Schneeberger's analysis of robotic surgery.

Schneeberger worries that the difficult, long learning curve of robot-assisted surgery will lead to higher error rates among surgeons.

I train people on the atrial fibrillation. There’s problems ten percent of the time. No one has died because we’ve been able to correct the problem. But for robotic surgery, you’re probably going to quadruple that problem rate. I don’t think people will die, but robotic surgery, for heart surgery, doesn’t get my particular blessing at this point in time... I do think it will get better though.

The problem with robotic surgery on the heart, he said, is that it is beating. "The problem with the heart is that it moves too much. It’s really bouncing around," he said.

He did concede that robotic surgery could be excellent for prostate surgery.

Prostate surgeons think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. It gives you total ambidexterity. For still material in tight spaces, I think it’s wonderful.

The doctor also questioned the motives of Intuitive Surgical, the manufacturer of the da Vinci machine. He said that they've changed since the early days when he worked with them.

They are only interested in selling machines. They are a very different company now after they’ve gone public.

Intuitive has done well in the market. The company's stock is up over 1,700% in the last five years.