An advanced four-armed robot equipped with a three-dimensional (3-D) camera has made keyhole surgery easier and created better results for surgeons at Centre for Robotic Surgery, headed by Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr Susan Lim.
Advantages over Laparoscopic Surgery (key-hole surgery, minimally invasive surgery)
Robotic Surgery is performed using small incisions (0.5 to 1.2cm) like in laparoscopic surgery. Thus, like laparoscopic surgery, there is less post operation pain and the recovery is shorter. Additional advantages include:
In robotic surgery, the surgeons view the operating field in 3-dimension. In laparoscopic surgery, the view is in 2-D.Obviously, 3-D is safer as surgeons have better depth perception.
The magnification is 10x in robotic surgery compared to 4x in laparoscopic surgery. Again this contributes to more safety
Instruments used in robotic surgery are more versatile than laparoscopic surgery instruments. Complex tasks are performed more efficiently with robotic surgery.
