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Surgical Robot Removes Calgary Woman's Brain Tumor
Raver32 points out an article in the Victoria Times Colonist about an interesting advance in robotic surgery: "Calgary doctors have made surgical history, using a robot to remove a brain tumor from a 21-year-old woman. Doctors used remote controls and an imaging screen, similar to a video game, to guide the two-armed robot through Paige Nickason's brain during the nine-hour surgery Monday. Surgical instruments acting as the hands of the robot — called NeuroArm — provided surgeons with the tools needed to successfully remove the egg-shaped tumor."
(I just noticed the Waldo story reference has something which prefigures Feynmann's "Plenty of Room at the Bottom" . Wonder if he got that idea from Heinlein?
Andy
I can't believe someone referring to BRAIN SURGERY as "a procedure that you just need to cut something out." And also stating that there are "some operations where you would want the doctor to be one site to help with complications" but acting like that would NOT be the case with a brain surgery!!! I just had brain surgery in March. It was VERY complicated and could have been fatal. There is NO WAY I would have allowed a robot to perform it. If that was the only case, I would expect the SAME amount of physicians in the operating room to take over if there was a problem. Brain surgery is VERY difficult and VERY important. Are you forgetting that obviously we only have ONE brain and we can't live or THINK without it??? I've been trying to sign up, also. But after three different times, I will have to have my password mailed to me, so this is unfortunately being posted as "Anonymous Coward."
More dexterity but probably less stability and more chance of being nervous, or getting pumped up on adrenaline and shaking? That kind of thing.
which is totally what she said
...there may be some categories of "inoperable" brain tumours that are inoperable because humans have too low a level of precision. Such tumours would be removable by such a method. There have been many advances in tele-surgery since early work in the early 1990s (Surgeons in Russia operated on patients in America, for example) but this is definitely a lot further forward than might have been expected from the pioneering efforts.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Just think how much of a boon this is for microsurgeons - folks who stitch together nerves, small blood vessels, etc. Hand tremor and even its inherent precision is no longer an issue. Plus, you can have more than two "hands". This will only get better, and eventually we'll probably see minor surgeries performed without any human intervention.
I have done a surgical rotation at a facility that uses a DaVinci robot to conduct some of its gynecological/urological procedures. The surgeon still has to work at it, and for those not familiar with the system, the surgeries can take 3 times longer and are more arduous than doing it the old fashioned way. In the hands of a practiced surgeon though, it's really a sight to behold in action, almost like a giant metal spider clipping and cutting.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
Researchers did a study on primitive surgical techniques. They found out that the caves used for these operations were as far back as possible, meaning that the air was dry and had no dust. Also, whenever a flintstone was used as a cutting instrument, a brand new stone was split, so there was no bacteria on the surfaces of the stone.
Ancient Brain Surgery
I need trepanning like a hole in the head.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
So? I'm an American and I had to wait even longer to see a dermatologist a few years back about a problem I had. What's your point, that we get to pay more for the same stuff?