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A new minimally invasive heart surgery technique
utilizing robotic technology has been performed at The Ohio State
University Medical Center. It was the first use in North America
of the da Vinci Computer-Enhanced Surgical System which uses
sensitive remote-controlled surgical instruments guided by a
surgeon at a computer keyboard.
The da Vinci system involves using a tiny
camera with multiple lenses inserted into the patient's chest,
providing a three-dimensional image of the heart. The surgeon,
at a nearby computer workstation, watches through a viewport
to see inside the chest as a pair of joysticks are manipulated
to control two precisely-engineered robotic arms.
The arms hold specially designed surgical
instruments that mimic the actual movement of the surgeon's hands
on the joysticks. Using the robotic technology, only three holes
- each about the diameter of a pencil - are needed to complete
the surgery. |
