Technology, Society, and Culture: Robotic Surgery, Outline Example

Introduction

Robotic surgery is the latest development that uses robots and computer aided apparatus to aid in normal surgical procedures. It is a new technology and mostly used in well developed countries. With robotic surgery a single surgeon is able not only to perform multiple surgeries but also do his/her work from any part of the world (McConnell, Schneeberger & Michler, 2003).

1. Description of the Technology

1. Science that drove the technology

The science that drove the development of this new technology is the latest development in artificial intelligence, internet and computer science (Lee, 2009).

Applications of the technology

Robotic surgery is gaining a wide acceptance in the medical fraternity in the recent past. This is because it has proved to be effective, efficient, reliable and above all accurate. This technology has found numerous applications in general surgery, neurosurgery, gynecology, radio surgery, urology, pediatrics, cardiothoracic, orthopedics, vascular surgery among many others. In fact it is applicable virtually in all surgery fields.

History of the Technology

A brief timeline

The development of robotic surgery can be traced back to 1997 in Cleveland when it was used to reconnect fallopian tubes. This enlisted a lot of interest from scientists’ world over who began working towards fully realization of this new technology. This continued till late 2010 when a true robot performed the first operation at Ljubljana University medical center (McConnell, Schneeberger & Michler, 2003).

An analysis of social factors that drove the technology

The major social factors that drove development of robotic surgery was to minimize invasive surgery, enhance surgeon’s capabilities and need to technologically advance. Using this technology, the surgeon uses a computer pr telemanipulator to move the instruments. By this the surgeon is able to perform minimal invasive surgery. A telemanipulator is an instrument that allows the surgeon to remotely manipulate the hands of the robot to perform the surgery instead of using his physical hands (Ahmed et al, 2009).

References

Ahmed, K., Khan, MS., Vats, A., Nagpal, K., Priest, O., Patel, V., Vecht, JA. & Ashrafian, H., (2009). Current status of robotic assisted pelvic surgery and future developments. Int J Surg. 7:431–44.

Kwoh, Y. S., Hou, J., Jonckheere, E. A. and Hayall, S. A (2005). ‘Robot with improved absolute positioning accuracy for CT guided stereotactic brain surgery’. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Engng, February.

Lee, DI. (Apr 2009). “Robotic prostatectomy: what we have learned and where we are going.” Yonsei Med J 50 (2): 177–81.

McConnell, PI; Schneeberger, EW; Michler, RE (2003). “History and development of robotic cardiac surgery”. Problems in General Surgery 20 (2): 20–30.