Medical Robotics Magazine: Comparing Open with Robotic Surgery

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Medical Robotics Magazine is the world's first and only commercial feature news magazine devoted to all aspect of the medical robotics industry- including robotic surgery, physical therapy robots, hospital orderlies, and other topics related to robotic medicine. As a feature magazine, Medical Robotics features interviews, business news, conference coverage and editorials, as well as a generous portion of articles written by noteworthy robotics surgeons as well as clinical trials reports. MR has been on-line since 2007, and first appeared in print in January of 2008 at the annual meeting of MIRA (the Minimally Invasive Robotics Association) in Rome, Italy. Medical Robotics Magazine is copyrighted, features a nascent Board of Editorial Advisors, and is indexed by the U.S. Library of Congress. All contents (c) 2011 John J. Otrompke, JD Contact: John J. Otrompke, JD John_Otrompke@yahoo.com 646-730-0179

Friday, May 13, 2011

Comparing Open with Robotic Surgery

   In a smaller study comparing robotic thyroidectomy with open procedures, levels of thyroglobulin (used as a surrogate marker for remnant tissue or recurring cancer) were smaller in the robotic group 0.36 nanograms per milliliter compared to 0.83, but the figure was not statistically significant, according to Chung.
   On the other hand, both procedures retrieved the same number of lymph nodes, he said.

   “If compared to open surgery, the operation cost is higher, and operation time is longer, in the robotic group. However, robotic surgery could provide more benefits to both patients and surgeons in terms of cosmesis, swallowing comfort, pain sensation and surgeon’s ergonomics,” according to Chung.

   The study, which is a prospective study in-progress, is destined for the Journal of Surgical Endoscopy, looks at 58 patients treated with open conventional thyroiedectomy, compared to 57 treated robotically.

   Preliminary results showed that although the number of lymph nodes retrieved was the same in both groups, rates of some injuries, such as trachea injury, were higher in the robotic group than in those treated with open surgery (1.8% compared to 0%).

   On the other hand, rates of some adverse events, such as hematoma, were higher in those treated with open surgery. Use of the robot was also associated with diminished hyperesthesia or paresthesia, a strange sensation of the skin in the anterior neck, according to Chung.