"All about Med & Tech" by Bianca A.

There are several ways to do a surgery, but a really technological way is doing it with surgery robots. Surgery robots are the latest tech in medicine. It‘s really important for people to know that there are a lot of ways to do a surgery and especially with machines! Also it‘s important that society sees how our life is getting futuristic and because of that they can reflect about our future, if we will still need to work in 30 years, or if robots will dominate the world! According to Itinux, just in the United States, the percentage of people that did surgeries with robotic surgeons increased from 0% to 19% from 2012 to 2018.

 I think that everyone that has already seen robotic surgeons asked this question, how do surgery robots work? Well actually they are really technological and scientists created the surgeons' robots and they are evolving in hospitals. For them to work, surgeons make really small cuts on your skin and put miniaturizer instruments and a camera, so then they can manipulate the machine to do the surgery. As stated by UCLA Health, they said ‘‘The Robotic system is like a supercomputer which allows the machine to translate the surgeon's movements into real-time allowing for greater precision. During a robotic-assisted procedure, your surgeon uses master controls at the surgeon console to direct the instruments during your surgery.’’  For them to control it, a surgeon sits in a console which allows them to do the surgery with his hand and feets remotely and precisely. Based on Surgical Solutions, the robot can also be made to change the scale of the robot’s movement. For example, a three-to-one scale, that means that the point of the robot’s arm will move one inch for every three inches the surgeon’s hand moves. For them to see, the surgeons insert a small 3D camera into the patient  through a very small cut, which gives them an amplified 360° view. In addition, robotic- assisted surgery is formed by surgical arms which have tiny instruments that facilitate doing surgeries where you need to be more careful. As the Cleveland clinic said, the surgeons' robots consist of surgical arms that have tiny instruments with wrists at the tip, a special camera that gives an amplified 3D view of the surgical area. Also, it contains a surgical console where the surgeon can control the arms and the camera‘s every move.

If the robots have a lot of technology, they must have their benefits. What are the benefits of having surgery robots working in medicine? As they contain awesome technology, they have a lot of benefits. Some of them are that after a surgery, you spend less time hospitalised, you have less pain and reduce blood loss. Based on the website Heath, ‘‘Compared to open surgery (traditional surgery with incisions), robotic and minimally invasive surgery results in smaller incisions resulting in less pain and scarring.’’  Another benefit is that you have less blood loss, quicker recovery and less risk of infection. An advantage for the surgeons is that you have better vision, control and have more precision while in the surgery. In the words of Regis College,  the development in robotic surgical systems is helping us to reduce the risk of problems and increase the number of procedures that may happen using the system. Moreover, if you do the surgery with robots they will make smaller scars, you will have less pain and quicker recovery. And for the surgeons, they have a better vision, a better precision and a better ability to do the surgery. As stated by Cleveland Clinic, the robots have greater precision. The arm‘s movements are more demanding than the human hand. Also, their area of motion is better, the arms rotate the instruments in small spaces in ways that aren’t otherwise possible. They have a better visualisation, it has an advanced 3D camera that has a high definition view of the surgery.

Although the surgeon's robots have a lot of benefits, they also have disadvantages. Some disadvantages of surgery robots in surgeries is that they are unavailable in some hospitals, they are just available in some centres that have specially trained surgeons. As stated by Cleveland Clinic, ‘‘Your surgeon may need to convert to an open procedure with larger incisions if there are complications. These include scar tissue from previous surgeries that make it difficult for robotic technology to complete the procedure. It has a risk of nerve damage and compression and robotic malfunction, which is extremely rare.’’ The use of surgeons' robots is limited in some countries. In addition, they are really expensive, so for you the surgery is really expensive. In the words of Delveinsight, ‘‘The major disadvantage of medical robots is the cost. The use of surgical robots is limited to developed countries, research centres, and advanced hospitals. Similarly to patients, in some cases, it is out of their reach to afford robotic surgeries. Also, the healthcare provider needs to invest a lot of money and time to train the workforce to handle robots; besides, their lifetime maintenance cost is another problematic factor. Another disadvantage of robots in healthcare is that it may take place of people and lead to unemployment.’’ It has a high cost of almost USD 2 million, just for one surgery. Also, using a surgical robot requires an expert of using the machine, making it harder to find a hospital which works with it. Based on the words of HBC, robotic surgery costs more than laparoscopic surgery, which costs 3,000 dollars to 6,000 dollars. So because of that, many patients will not have the opportunity to do the surgery.

In the end, are they worth it? They are expensive, so not everyone can afford it. However, if you can, it‘s great to do it because their advantage will help to not be in pain or risk of infection, and it‘s interesting to know that we are creating new things that are helping us to get benefits. They give you a lot of benefits, but you can‘t have these benefits if you can‘t afford it. They are really expensive, so if you want to do the surgery, you need to save money for a long time! In the words of NIH, the total number of robotic procedures that were made in 2017 surrendered a cost of $3567, with $1866 for instruments and accessories, $1038 for robot systems, and $663 for the service contract for each surgery. If you convert this into Brazilian real, it is R$ 17.542,51. Would you pay to have this surgery?