Surgeons to use robots for surgery

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - More and more surgery is being done with robots, but how are surgeons learning to use them?

More operations are being done with robotic machines and that's good. They use tiny incisions and small instruments and they're very precise. But, surgeons have to learn how to use them, and that's difficult.

Dr. Khurshid Guru of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute said, "When you do robotic surgery, you have no tactile feedback; you're operating from a remote distance, and whenever you operate, it's just your visual cues which teach you how to operate. That is why robotic surgery is harder to learn."

Dr. Guru and his colleagues just unveiled the first machine designed to teach robotic surgery, jointly developed by Roswell Park and the UB School of Engineering. It's like a flight simulator to teach pilots. Trainees who use it have an experience that's very much like actually operating. But first, they have to get used to a whole new way to move their hands.

"Even before they learn how to operate, they have to get some basic skills, which means how to pinch tissue, how to cut tissue, how to make sure not to traumatize other organs," explained Dr. Guru.

That's not easy. It takes lots of practice, like lifting and placing small balls over and over.

Dr. Guru said, "You can see, I'm not just placing the ball, I am moving my arms, learning how to address my arms."

Then there's simulated tissue that responds to the virtual instruments. Here, the bladder is lifted up, and then the prostate can be removed. The group is developing a full curriculum with specific tasks and goals. There's even a virtual score sheet to keep track of your progress. This device from Buffalo will be training surgeons everywhere.

"Because the future is going to be this; this is not going away. So we need to be taking the lead in developing programs to teach the country how to trtain our future surgeons," said Dr. Guru.