Robotic Surgery in the Philippines

Robotic Surgery in The Medical City

Robots are now being utilized in surgical operations in the Philippines. This has been the case since 2010. Robots first appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s but for space exploration and industrial assembly applications.

The precision attained by using robots have also made them ideal for medical surgical operations and procedures. It took some time for robotic technology to be utilized in medical surgical operations but advances in technology such as human-machine interface made possible by more powerful computers achieved such.

Traditional surgery entailed making incisions along the affected parts of the body and these can result to pain and longer recovery time for the patients. Also, there was no going around certain body organs since human hands can only achieve so much precision as well as limited sight by human surgeons.

There came a time when long and disfiguring incisions were no longer needed with the advent of robot assisted laparoscopy. Laparoscopic surgery uses only small incisions that utilizes specialized long instruments and visual system that gives the current surgeon greater flexibility in making operations.

Greater accuracy and precision were still needed since human hands can be precise to a limited extent. That is where robotics come in wherein the surgeon controls the robot and a three dimension video is provided and even up to 10 times magnification.

The surgeons movements are managed by the robot so as not to let involuntary muscle twitching affect the performance of extremely precise procedures and movements during operations and surgeries. Even millimeter sized blood vessels can now be seen and avoided with robot assisted operations.

What is a critical part of robotic surgery is that the visuals can be enhanced to the specifications needed for the surgery. A three-dimensional magnified video is available so as to give an “inside view” that has never been available before. This enables the surgeon to precisely move and identify borders of the target organ for the procedure.

This precise movements translate to less affected organs, less trauma, less bleeding, less pin and faster recovery time for the patients.

The Medical City (TMC) first used robots in surgery in 2010. It is being utilized in complex procedures in the fields of urology, gynecology, thoracic, head, neck, oral surgery, colorectal surgery and other abdominal surgeries.

TMC has teams of highly trained surgeons and doctors in robot assisted surgery and they continue with updated trainings as they become available.