In recent years, robots have shown promising results in surgical procedures. They are proven to be an essential tool, and the market is slowly and gradually emerging, leading to a rise in adoption by hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.
The robotic surgical systems offer several benefits to the surgeon, such as enhanced visual field, superior dexterity, and reach to inaccessible or hard-to-reach places during the surgery.
Similarly, patients benefit from better clinical outcomes, shorter hospital stays, precision in surgery, lesser pain, early discharge, and quicker recovery time. Compared to conventional surgery, robotic surgery causes smaller incision and therefore reduces the risk of getting infection post-surgery.
Here we list some of the most successful robotic surgical systems in the world.
ROBODOC
ROBODOC is a surgical robot for computer-assisted hip-and knee-joint replacement, which allows surgeons to perform the surgeries with greater precision, using CT scans converted into three-dimensional virtual images for preoperative surgical planning and computer-guided drilling. The tool has been used in more than 28,000 procedures worldwide.
ORTHODOC
ORTHODOC, is a ROBODOC-integrated preoperative planning workstation that provides the surgeon with 3D information and easy point-and-click control, enabling one to perform remote, joint replacement procedures with better accuracy than a surgeon’s hand, without risk to the patient or prolonged surgical time.
iBlock Surgical System
iBlock offers an automated cutting guide for total knee replacement, allowing intraoperative customization in TKA using real-time visual planning technology. It reduces surgical time, and increases cut accuracy, compared to navigation of cutting block by human surgeon.
Navio PFS Surgical System
Navio PFS Surgical System uses robotic-assisted technology to assist with total knee replacement procedures, using bone mapping (instead of preoperative CT-scans) to achieve a 3D representation of the bone structure. It allows the surgeon to virtually position the implant and balance tissues before cutting bone with a robotics-assisted hand tool.
MAKO RIO Surgical System
This robotics-assisted surgical device performs the implantation of lateral and medical unicondylar knee components, and for patellofemoral arthroplasty. The preoperative planning process allows for accurate implant positioning, using CT scan data to generate a 3D model of the bone structure unique to the individual patient.
Stanmore Sculptor Surgical System
Sculptor Surgical System performs unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in the arranged workspace. The Sculptor utilizes a robotic guidance arm to assist the surgeon in operating a cutting tool, restraining the bone removal to a pre-defined safe area corresponding to the implant shape. During surgery, a tracking arm determines and monitors the location of the patient, ensuring that the surgeon accurately prepares the bone surface to match the implant precisely.
da Vinci Robotic Surgery System
da Vinci Robotic Surgery System is the first robotic surgery device to gain FDA clearance in general laparoscopic surgeries. It enables surgeons to perform various minimally invasive procedures (including minimally invasive cardiac, colorectal, gynecology, thoracic, head and neck, urology, and general surgeries) with clinically supported precision and accuracy. The surgeon operates the system through the Surgeon Console that controls Patient Cart’s robotic devices, including various surgical instruments and a camera.
Ion Robotic Surgical System
Ion robotic surgical system is a robotic endoluminal system, which uses flexible robotic catheters to obtain lung biopsy in a minimally invasive procedure. The robotic catheter navigates through the small and intricate airways of the lung to reach the targeted lung tissue and collect cell samples using a cytology brush. Ion uses fiber optic shape-sensing technology for navigation.
Telelap ALF-X Surgical System
Telelap ALF-X Surgical System is a four-armed robotic system controlled by eye-tracking to achieve endoscopic view and activation of various instruments. Each arm can be positioned independently from the others in the surgical field. Its unique features include haptic feedback, achieved by counter-movements of the laparoscopic handle at the console according to force and direction applied at the tip of the instrument.
Monarch System
Monarch System is a bronchoscopic device with a video game-like controller, used to navigate a flexible robotic endoscope throughout the lungs. This robotics-assisted system has a dedicated camera and instrument channel that allow continuous vision throughout the procedure to aid in the biopsy process. It aggregates the traditional endoscopic viewpoints with computer-guided navigation based on 3D models unique to the patient.
The CorPath System
The CorPath System is the first FDA-cleared, remote telerobotic, interventional platform with a radiation-shielded workstation. The physicians can sit and use a set of joysticks to control the coronary guide catheters and guidewires.
PRECEYES Surgical System
PRECEYES Surgical System is the world’s first eye-surgery robot using model-based design. The distance sensor in the robot measures the distance of an instrument from the retina inside the eye, and the robotic assistant scales the surgeon’s movements and filters hand tremors to enable unprecedented steadiness and precision, providing significant safety and high performance during demanding retinal surgery.
Pathfinder Surgical System
Pathfinder Surgical System is a portable neurosurgical robot with a fiducial system that is automatically detectable by the planning software and a camera system embedded in the robot’s head. The robotic arm can rotate in a horizontal plane 90 degrees to the left or right. The procedure is performed automatically by photographing the fiducials from different angles. The robot then aligns its end-effector and tool holder along the specified path for the surgeon to pass the probe to the target.
Renaissance Surgical System
Renaissance Surgical System provides tool guidance for a variety of procedures, including minimally-invasive and percutaneous degenerative repair, pedicle screw fixation for complex spinal deformity, and vertebral augmentation. The device takes advantage of the technology used by Mazor’s SpineAssist but features an entirely new design, human interface, hardware, and software technologies.
