Transcripts

Bill of Health: The Robot Revolution Hits Hospitals

SUSIE GHARIB: Robots have long been a fixture on auto assembly lines and in other industrial workspaces. But robotic devices are now appearing in a different kind of workplace: hospital operating rooms. In tonight`s "bill of health" segment, Jeff Yastine explains.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: A human surgeon still provides the brains and the skill in the operating room, but robotic surgical systems are emerging as a revolutionary tool for minimally- invasive surgery. That promises big changes for surgeons, hospitals and patients alike.

It looks like something from a science fiction movie, but it`s here now, in use at about 300 hospitals in the U.S. Called the Davinci surgical system, it puts an unique tool in the hands of surgeons, who sit at a console, looking at a three-dimensional display relayed from cameras mounted on the robotic arms. The surgeon uses a pair of digital hand- controllers to manipulate those arms. Through a series of incisions between the ribs, the surgeons can perform heart valve repairs and other delicate operations which previously would have meant cracking open a patient`s rib cage with all its associated pain and recovery time. For surgeons like Dr. Douglas Boyd, it opens up a whole other world.

DR. DOUGLAS BOYD, SURGEON, CLEVELAND CLINIC FLORIDA: For example, we can place probes very, very precisely with a robot that you cannot do by hand, because there`s natural human tremor and so forth. But if you can imagine for example the strength of digitization, what you can do is you can motion scale. So once you sit at a robotic system, very, very large movements at the surgeon`s control console can be scaled down by digitization to very, very micro-movements in the end affecters.

YASTINE: Other clinical studies have suggested less scarring, less blood loss and perhaps a smaller risk of infection. Hospitals like the Davinci system as well because it`s transforming some major surgeries into minimally invasive procedures requiring shorter hospital stays.

ALEKS CUKIC, VP BUSINESS DEV., INTUITIVE SURGICAL CORP.: So if you can imagine an operation that required a three-day hospital stay, or a two- to three-day hospital stay, like a radical prostatectomy and now look at it from a Davinci prostatectomy standpoint as a hospital administrator, you`re now able to get those patients out in a day, as being reported and you`re able to attract more patients.

YASTINE: There are other possibilities, including what some call remote or tele-surgery. Because the system is completely digital, it`s possible for a surgeon using the Davinci controllers and a fiber-optic data line to operate on a patient who might be a thousand miles away.

BOYD: It can be done. The technology is here, but we have to make sure there`s have hard lines, there`s excellent fiber optics and that there`s a backup remotely. But is it coming? Absolutely.

YASTINE: The FDA first approved the use of the Davinci surgical system in 2000 for gallbladder operations. And since then, its use has been expanded to include uterine fibroids, hysterectomies, prostate surgery, operations on the lungs and the esophagus as well as coronary bypass surgery. For bill of health, I`m Jeff Yastine.