Today in our technologically advanced world, our doctors and surgeons have been introduced to the wonders of robotic surgery. “Since 1921 when Czech playwright Karel Capek introduced the notion and coined the term robot in his play Rossom’s Universal Robots, robots have taken on increasingly more importance both in imagination and reality. ‘Robot’, taken from the Czech robota, meaning forced labor, has evolved in meaning from dumb machines that perform menial, repetitive tasks to the highly intelligent anthropomorphic robots of popular culture” (Lanfranco et. al. , 2004).
Anthony Lanfranco and his crew from the Drexel University’s Department of Medical Engineering and Mechanics and Philadelphia College of Medicine composed a review of the history of robotic surgery, it’s development, and it’s current applications of today. The significance of this text is to allow its readers to understand the history and background of robotic surgery and how it is and could be used for different tasks that could not be achieved by the human force. It gives a brief description on the development of this new discovery as well as the potential of its current applications.
The article provides both sides of a controversial issue: the advantages of robotic-assisted surgery as well as the disadvantages of robotic-assisted surgery. It educates its readers before going into depth without being too dense for an audience to comprehend. All in all, the article is significant because it is a collection of research and data collected by reliable sources and this information and enlighten those of today’s world who are are not aware of the existence of robotic surgery.
From this, people can add to the idea and possibly create something even more advanced and contribute to our technologically advanced world, which could better society by making difficult surgical tasks a lot easier to tackle. To summarize the article, since robotic surgery has entered the field of medicine, surgeries have been made not simpler or easier, but manageable. Robotic telesurgical machines have helped the surgeons of today accomplish tasks that are highly difficult with just the work of just human hands.
Although robotic surgery may still be in its infancy, the market continues to be in demand for its benefits as it continues to evolve and emerge into something that could possibly make a rather large and significant advance in our world. It’s current applications include assisting surgeons during surgeries that were near to impossible to do before robotic surgery was invented.
Lanfranco’s research fully described what robotic surgery essentially is: “…systems are comprehensive master-slave surgical robots with multiple arms operated remotely from a console with video assisted visualization and computer enhancement. In the Da Vinci system, which evolved from the telepresence machines developed for NASA and the US Army, there are essentially 3 components: a vision cart that holds a dual light source and dual 3-chip cameras, a master console where the operating surgeon sits, and a moveable cart, where 2 instrument arms and the camera arm are mounted.
The camera arm contains dual cameras and the image generated is 3-dimensional. The master console consists of an image processing computer that generates a true 3-dimensional image with depth of field; the view port where the surgeon views the image; foot pedals to control electrocautery, camera focus, instrument/camera arm clutches, and master control grips that drive the servant robotic arms at the patient’s side. The instruments are cable driven and provide 7 degrees of freedom.
This system displays its 3-dimensional image above the hands of the surgeon so that it gives the surgeon the illusion that the tips of the instruments are an extension of the control grips, thus giving the impression of being at the surgical site” (Lanfranco et all, 2004). As the idea and creation of robotics for surgery progresses, a new revolution is being made. The audience being addressed by this article is the people who are curious or controversial towards the idea of robotic surgery.
The genre is mainly nonfiction, for it is factually written, including clear evidence of research through thirty-five references. The arrangement of the text is clear and precise and aids readers in understanding the text and its content. In addition, the author provides tables, diagrams, and pictures, which visually help readers understand the content of the article.
It begins with a brief background and history in robotic surgery, followed by the advantages and disadvantages of it, then its current applications, and its uses in the surgical world of today. The author’s strategy was simply stating what he researched and knows, so that it is comprehensible by an audience of a wide age range. The content is not too dense, which makes readers more comfortable with reading the review. The author appeals to the logos aspect of the rhetorical writing, for he is stating facts, logic, and does not appeal emotionally to the audience.
It is strictly a fact-based, informative article. In addition to the fact that the author does not appeal to pathos or ethos, the author presents not only the advantages of robotic surgery, but also its disadvantages. This makes him appear as unbiased. The article altogether is a factual description of robotic surgery because of the clear evidence of conducted research. The main idea proposed by the text is that robotic surgery is making its progress in the medical field and is becoming a significant aid to surgeons.
At the beginning of the article, it appears to be simply a current perspective but towards the end of the article, the author states, “Although still in its infancy, robotic surgery has already proven itself to be of great value, particularly in areas inaccessible to conventional laparoscopic procedures. It remains to be seen, however, if robotic systems will replace conventional laparoscopic instruments in less technically demanding procedures. In any case, robotic technology is set to revolutionize surgery by improving and expanding laparoscopic procedures, advancing surgical technology, and bringing surgery into the digital age.
Furthermore, it has the potential to expand surgical treatment modalities beyond the limits of human ability” (Lanfranco et. al. , 2004). I agree with Lanfranco when he states that robotic surgery is becoming a significant aid in the medical field and has the capability of expanding surgical procedures. Before reading the article, I knew very little about robotic surgery but had always wondered where it derived from and how big it is today in the medical field.
The article was able to relieve some of my curiosity as it was very informative in many aspects: brief background and history, current robotic surgical systems, advantages of robot-assisted surgery, its disadvantages, its current clinical applications, the practical uses of surgical robots today, and the future of robotic surgery. The article enhanced my interest in the topic of robotic surgery because it gave me so much insight on what it is and what it could be if it continues to grow.
The article was not too dense, which make it easy to comprehend compared to most articles about areas of the medical field. The visuals in the article definitely made it more intriguing to read and made my curiosity grow.
The topic of robotic surgery is something new to me and this article has educated me to a great extent and I wish to do more research and learn as much as I can about a topic so interesting. References Lanfranco, A. , Castellanos, A. , Desai, J. , & Meyers, W. (2004). Annals of surgery. In PubMed Central. Retrieved from http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC1356187/.