In January, the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi will get a fourth generation robot to perform some of the most complicated cardiac surgeries.

In January, the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi will get a fourth generation robot to perform some of the most complicated cardiac surgeries. "Earlier generations had just three hands but now there are four, which is used for endoscopy. Manual surgical processes are full of limitations.

The second generation robot at surgery

Dr YK Mishra instructing it from his console

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The currently available surgical instruments are awkward, primitive and rigid. Plus, human eyes have limitations. I can only see up to a limit," says Dr YK Mishra, senior heart surgeon and director of cardiovascular surgery with Fortis Escorts in New Delhi who has performed the maximum number, 441, of such surgeries in Asia, adding, "Though such computer-assisted surgeries are not new, recent innovations have made it possible to use them more often. It's the fourth generation of robotic equipment that will be installed at Escorts
in January."

The doctor's status of God will be challenged by robots that are fast replacing the huge team of surgeons and support staff in an operation theatre. Here, the instruments are attached to the arms of a robot, which performs the operation. The commands to these robots are given by the doctor through a computer console.

The seeds of this technology were sown in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1983 where the world's first surgical robot Arthrobot was used and it gave birth to a powerful desire to design surgical techniques that wouldn't create extensive 'dents' in the body of a patient. Robotic surgery is a result of that very desire.

Just like your new LED television or camera, the fourth generation of robots will send out high definition videos of the surgery to the doctors who'll also be able to zoom in up to 10 times more than the naked eyes.

Plus, enhanced accuracy, almost human-hand like movement of the arms, speed and minimum blood loss are added advantage of such surgeries.

Since the extent of dissection is less, the healing time is also lesser. Usually in a bypass, a 12-inch cut is made in the chest to operate on the heart. When robots are engaged; the cuts are no more than the size of a .5mm dot.

"The instruments mimic the normal hand, with six full degrees of freedom of motion, just as the human wrist has in conventional open surgery. My hands may tremble, a robot's wont. That's the magic."

Cost wise, robotic surgeries are expensive, but if someone is ready to shell out Rs five to six lakh for manual surgery, a few additional lakh wouldn't make him any poorer.

Da Vinci System
is the name of a fourth generation robot to be launched in Delhi next year. It will perform complicated heart surgeries by sending high definition videos of the surgery to the doctor, who will instruct it from a console