Intuitive Surgical’s daVinci robotic surgery system is gaining traction in the market for its unique ability to combine laparascopic and minimally invasive surgical techniques with robotic and haptic systems for improved accuracy and reduced recovery time for the patient. Unfortunately, these machines remain ridiculously expensive and hard to train on due to the current ‘apprentice’ model in use.
“Until now, surgeons have not had sufficient opportunities outside of the operating room to gain extensive training in robotic techniques,” said Guru, whose own surgical expertise has made RPCI’s robotics program a Center of Excellence and a world leader in physician training in robotics. Instead, he explains, surgeons usually start by “shadowing” a colleague who is more experienced with robotics in the operating room; once they are seen as having developed some proficiency, they start doing robotic surgeries on their own patients.
A new project from the University of Buffalo aims to change this with a tool called ‘RoSS’, the ‘Robotic Surgical Simulator’. For a fraction of the cost,time, and prep of the real daVinci and a patient, surgeons can train and practice in virtual reality on simulated patients.
“Hospitals don’t invest in these multi-million-dollar robotic surgery systems so that people can train on them,” says John Burgess, Simulated Surgical Systems, LLC, chief executive officer. “Their most pressing need has been a good training environment for robotic surgery.”
Hopefully this will result in a more rapid deployment of DaVinci’s in hospitals across the world.
via Introducing RoSS, a “Flight Simulator” for Robotic Surgery – UB NewsCenter. via PhysOrg
