Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has introduced a first-of-its-kind gyroscopic radiotherapy system— ZAP-X Gyroscopic Radiosurgery— to India, which will enable select patients of brain tumour to get treated without having to go under the knife. Radiation therapy is used to target the tumour from various angles and what’s more, the patient can walk out of the hospital the same day and will experience minimal side effects.
The company that has developed the machine says on its website that the platform opens new frontiers in modern surgical robotics.
John R Adler, founder and CEO of the Zap-X technology and professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford School of Medicine, said, “Stereotactic radiosurgery is among the most important medical advancements of the past century. Eligible patients no longer have to experience debilitating surgical resections or potentially lose cognitive capacity by undergoing whole brain radiotherapy.”
Robot-assisted surgeries—a cutting-edge development in the field of surgery that allows surgeons to perform complex surgeries with more precision and flexibility— are now being done by different medical departments in many big hospitals. While robotics was used largely for cancer-related surgeries, surgeons are now also performing procedures using these advanced machines for non-cancerous conditions.
The development has transformed the field of surgery entirely.
According to Mayo Clinic, the most widely used clinical robotic surgical system includes a camera arm and mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them. The surgeon controls the arms while seated at a computer console near the operating table. The console gives the surgeon a high-definition, magnified, 3D view of the surgical site. The surgeon leads other team members who assist during the operation.
Often, robotic surgery makes minimally invasive surgery possible. The benefits of minimally invasive surgery include fewer complications, such as surgical site infection, less pain and blood loss, shorter hospital stay and quicker recovery, and smaller, less noticeable scars. There is also tremor filtration that can change surgical outcomes significantly.
“For cancer robotic surgeries were being performed but now for benign gynae conditions also robotics has picked up with good results. I have been performing robot-assisted procedures for almost a year now for conditions such as fibroids, hysterectomy, deep pelvic endometriosis, and repair of warts etc. These are conditions where you need fine dissection and because of the 3-D camera, you can see each nerve clearly. It’s literally like sitting inside a patient’s tummy and performing surgery,” said Dr Anuradha Kapur, head of unit, department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital.
Doctors said that patients these days ask for robotic surgery options as they are aware of advances in technology. To be sure, not every patient is an ideal candidate for robotic surgery.
“We don’t use a robot for simple surgical procedures because there is a certain extra cost involved. However, for complex procedures where there are multiple adhesions or multiple fibroids involved, or the need for very fine dissection, this technology is proving to be quite beneficial. It’s revolutionizing the way procedures are done,” added Dr Kapur.
Rhythma Kaul, national deputy editor, health, analyses the impact of the most significant piece of news this week in the health sector
