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S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M O N T H 2 0 1 4
technology's capabilities,
the situations in which it
is used will expand. No
matter how sophisticated
the procedure, 3D will
always trump a flat
image.
3. Practicality
and cost-effectiveness
3D imaging is a major component of robotic surgery, but robotic surgery is not
without its limits. The surgeon who sits at the console enjoys depth perception
as he remotely operates the controls, but he does not have the tactile feedback
that laparoscopic instruments offer.
The surgeon also relies on his assistant at tableside for endoscopic stapling
and other selected tasks. This assistant, it should be noted, does not share the
robotic console's 3D view, so his work is guided by a 2D view of the internal site.
That's not the only concern. Ceding some tasks to the assistant, who might not
have the surgeon's level of experience, may affect the procedure's outcomes.
As we come to realize the limits of robotic systems, whose 3D visualization is
yoked to the loss of a certain amount of control for the surgeon, it is possible
that more and more image-guided surgeons will migrate to hands-on
laparoscopy for their 3D imaging needs, rather than to robotic surgery.
A recognition of the high cost of robotic systems is evidence that 3D
laparoscopy is also a very cost-effective alternative to the robot.
4. User-friendliness
When early-adopting physicians began using the first generation of 3D visualiza-
tion systems, some of them complained of dizziness or of having a hard time
focusing on the imaging subject.
Since then, though, interface innovations have made such complaints much
S U R G I C A L I M A G I N G
PORT POTENTIAL 3D imaging could
help further single-incision surgery.
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