The first documented use of a robot in surgery dates back to 1985 when doctors used what was called a PUMA 560 to conduct a neurosurgical biopsy.
The robotic arm was designed for industrial use. Later in the '80s, what was called the PROBOT was developed at Imperial College London for use in prostate surgery.
The technology advanced through the 1990s,and then in 2000, the da Vinci Surgical System received FDA approval for general laparoscopic surgery. The surgeons uses robotic arms to perform the procedures and could see what they were doing with 3D visualization. This became a cornerstone of modern robotic surgery still being built upon today.
Lee Health began conducting robot-assisted surgery in 2012, and since then its surgeons have conducted more than 14,000 surgical procedures using a variety of systems. These days, more than 100 surgeons with robotics training in their specialty are using 29 robots in a variety of surgeries at the Fort Myers-based health system.
To learn more about this not-entirely new but certainly cutting-edge field of medicine, "Gulf Coast Life" talks with two people who oversee robotic surgery and surgical services at Lee Health: program manager Dr. Juan Ibarra and vice president of surgical services Cheri Cartwright.
Click on the Listen link above to hear the discussion.
