Robotic-Assisted Surgery: More Costly, However Not Always More Viable

Surgeries that are robotic-assisted are substantially more costly than other surgeries that are minimally invasive; however it doesn't enhance results of surgery for rectal cancers and kidney tumors. Dr. In Gab Jeong from University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea believes that the quick increment in expensive robot surgery in lieu of laparoscopic surgery without a distinct benefit for the patient is an issue that can be connected to the urological field as well as to the whole surgical field. This may prompt an immense increment in the cost of therapeutic care that can be a critical pressure on the system of healthcare. In robotic-assisted surgery, similar instruments utilized as a part of laparoscopic surgery are associated with a mechanical gadget that takes into account greater range of motion of the instruments, improved ergonomics for the surgeon and 3-dimensional visualization. Broad competition and marketing among hospitals have prompted across the board utilization of robotic surgery in a wide scope of techniques, yet it stays dubious in light of its expanded expenses and absence of proof of enhanced results contrasted and non-robotic minimally invasive methodologies.

In a research revealed in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Jeong's group utilized a United States database to look at results and expenses of robotic-assisted surgery versus laparoscopic surgery for broad kidney surgery. Robotic-assisted surgery represented 1.5 percent of operations in 2003 in this setting; it represented 27 percent of surgeries by 2015. Laparoscopic surgeries declined in parallel amid that period. Subsequent to considering an assortment of factors, robotic-assisted surgery had comparable rates of major complexities, blood transfusions, and delayed stays in the hospital as laparoscopic surgery. However, robotic-assisted surgery costs valued US$2678 (2272.67 euros) more than those related with laparoscopic surgery, chiefly because of longer working room duration and higher costs of supply. Jeong further said that the improvement and utilization of robotic mediums may be useful in care of patients.

However, scientific research on cost-adequacy and security has in some cases not been adequately conducted, and it is quickly spreading in the therapeutic field because of different reasons, for example, patient’s preference for the latest technology, marketing of the company, and suggestions of the doctor's doctors/hospital. In another study in a similar issue of the journal, Dr. David Jayne from St. James' University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom and partners from 29 centers in 10 nations explored whether robotic-assisted surgery was more averse to expect change to open surgery, in comparison with traditional laparoscopic surgery, in 471 patients who were having rectal cancers expelled. The average time for surgery was 37.5 minutes longer in the group that is robotic-assisted than in the customary laparoscopic group, yet the automated gadgets didn't decrease the requirement to change over a portion of the operations to open surgery.