To say that Brain surgeries are complicated would be an understatement. The precision it requires to carry out surgery takes years of practice by a surgeon and yet, prone to human errors. The problem is so much more complicated in the case of brains. One slightest and most minor errors can leave the patient paralyzed.
As a solution, researchers came up with robots to do the job of humans. If the thought of a machine makes you uncomfortable, think of having a robot complete a brain surgery. The robots can be relied upon to perform complicated and delicate tasks such as peeling a grape. The robot-assisted surgeries reduce the time it takes to perform the surgeries as well. The reduction of time is synonymous to the reduction of costs it takes to perform the surgeries.
Researchers are finding ways to reduce the time and improve the precision in such intricate procedures all around the world. The researchers at the University of Utah are bent on the search for the solution in surgeries using robots. One of such robots is able to reduce the time to perform complex surgeries by 50 times. The procedure it takes to drill through a human skull takes 2 hours, however, the robot can do so with acute precision in only 2 and a half minutes, reported CNN.
The research published in Neurosurgical Focus journal explains how robots use the Data from a CT Scan for its programming. Location of nerves and blood vessels or veins that need to be engaged or avoided are seen by the programmer through the scan.
“We could program it to drill the bone out safely just by using the patient’s CT criteria, it basically machines out the bone” Team Lead neurosurgeon Willian Couldwell.
An added benefit of utilization of robots to perform time-consuming complicated tasks is the minimum amount of time the patient is under the influence of anesthesia. There can be complications in the case where the patient is kept on anesthesia for a longer time. Overall, the robot-assisted surgeries are something to look forward to given the level of accuracy of the robots that a human may not be able to achieve.
