Robotic Surgery Essay Example

Computers, robots and technology have notably contributed to medicine advancement in the twentieth century. Currently, it is not surprising to find hospitals using robots to help out in surgery. In this essay, I am going to compare the pros and cons of the use of robots in modern and future medicine. It has been asserted that even though there are some concerns about the use of robots in medicine, the advantages are a lot greater than disadvantages.
Robotic surgery has various concerns; to start with robots used in robotic surgery are very costly. A robot costs almost one million dollars and this shows very clearly that not all hospitals can afford a million dollars to purchase these robots to assist them in surgery. This is a set back in this invention. Even though many people have the thought that if this technology is developed, the price of robots will reduce but others think that the prices will increase if robotic features like speed process and robot software upgrading is done.
Another concern that has been raised about robots is about their size. Current robots are very big in size and if they are used in the same surgery room plus the surgery team, the operating room will be overcrowded and thus lack of fresh air. Furthermore, another con of using robots is lack of compatible equipments. If certain equipment is lacking, replacing it will be very difficult and this would mean that table side assistants will be relied on so as to help in successful completion of the operation. Nevertheless, this is a temporary concern as in can be solved with the new technologies that are being developed (Lanfranco et al., 2004).
In spite of all these advantages, robotic surgery has many advantages. According to Svitil (1998), robotic surgery that entails entering instruments through tiny incisions has been proved to be more comfortable for patients. Patients who undergo this kind of surgery spend short periods in hospitals compared to patients who have undergone traditional surgery. These patients recover faster as they feel less pain compared to the traditional surgery. Another advantage of robotic surgery is that the surgeons performing the operation can do it without having to be in the same location. An example is the cyber-surgery, the surgeon can perform many operations in different places using a control panel. The use of robots in surgery reduces the time used as well as the cost of the operation because the surgeons will not need to travel to those many locations in order to perform the operations (Hamilton-Piercy, 2007).
In addition, a surgeon can operate accurately in very confined areas inside a patient’s body with the use of robot’s instruments. These robot instruments work better compared to human hands as they can move in all directions in a human body. Another advantage of robots in surgery is that they perform tremor free operations which cannot be done through conventional surgery. In robotic surgery, surgeons can perform an operation from outside the operating room and thus less bacterial contaminations are reported (Bonatti, 2011).
In essence, even though robotic surgery has disadvantages like the size, cost, lack of compatible instruments, ongoing developments and time will be able to solve all these issues faster than expected. Furthermore, the advantages of robotis surgery outshine the cons and thus it should be recommended in all hospitals.