India News: Surgeries with robotic assistance.

Doc’s skills get tech edge with robotics
July 13, 2011
DC
Bengaluru
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July 12: Doctors moving their fingers on computers, and robots performing the surgery may seem the stuff of sci-fi movies, but is not entirely a day-dream. Robotics and robot assisted surgeries are today progressing by leaps, enhancing the dexterity of surgeons and reducing hospital stays and blood loss for the patients. In fact, robotics has already taken minimally invasive surgery to the next level. While Robot-Assisted Surgeries (RAS) has been in vogue in the USA and Europe for a decade now, it is only now that it is being seen in Karnataka.
RAS may be new to the state but robotic radio surgery has been around in Karnataka for a couple of years now. “Robotic radio surgery is a non- invasive procedure and uses the cruise missile technology which precisely targets tumours anywhere in the body with pinpoint accuracy and delivers intense doses of radiation,” explains Dr. Ajaikumar B.S, chairman, HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG), pointing out that robotics leaves no room for human error

“While cyberknife, the robotic radio surgery is a non-invasive alternative to surgery, Robot Assisted Surgeries (RAS) are actual surgeries done with extra precision and dexterity. We are planning to soon get the equipment required for RAS too,” he reveals. The equipment for robotic radio surgery costs around Rs 23 lakh and is presently available only in Bengaluru and Chennai in the country, while the equipment for RAS, which costs around Rs 10 lakh, is available in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Gujarat. 

“Every patient going in for surgery has hidden fears, but with this level of precision and dexterity such anxiety will be greatly reduced,” feels Prof P. Balaram, director of the Indian Institute of Science, (IISc). The good news is Apollo Hospital is already doing a near-robotic heart surgery. 

“This involves the insertion of a long flexible tube with a camera and light attached, into the body through a small incision. The image is sent to a screen that the surgeon watches during the operation. He also makes other small incisions to insert required tools necessary to perform the procedure,” explains Dr Umapathy Panyala, COO of the hospital.

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