Cost Of Robotic Surgery

Jessica Mishkoff

Ms. King

10th Honors Literature

18 February 2016

Robotic Surgery: The Medicine of the Future

Technology is changing the world. However, many people are concerned with how technology will affect their lives. Robotic Surgery is a recent technological and medical development that provides numerous advantages over traditional surgeries. Robotic surgery is a recent innovation in the medical field that is currently being used in all forms of surgical medicine. This kind of robotic endoscopic surgery has been used by medical professionals for over a decade in both the United States and Europe (Poffo 296). In cardiac patients, these minimally invasive procedures are used to replace the standard sternotomy (Bush 2). Sternotomies

Typically with robotic surgeries, there is a lesser need for a blood transfusion (The Cost of Robotic Surgery). According to the mitral valve replacement study, “Mean packed red blood cell transfusion was also lower among patients who underwent robotic assisted mitral valve surgery (5.0 versus 2.8 units, P = 0.04).” (Bush 3). Cases where robotic surgery was performed had less atrial fibrillation and pleural effusion cases which led to a hospital stay 0.9 days shorter than cases where a complete sternotomy was performed (Bush 2). Lower rates of infection are also more common among endoscopic robotic surgery (The Cost of Robotic Surgery). This is because the approach used by robotic cardiac surgeries involves not taking down both mammary grafts, which eliminates putting the patient at risk for deep wounds and infection (Bernstein

Institutional cost for Da Vinci system is approximately $1 million with maintenance of $100,000 (Morgan 247). The absolute cost for a robotic atrial septal defect in one study was an additional $972 from a traditional surgery, while the cost of a robotic mitral valve repair was an additional $644 from a traditional surgery(Morgan 248). This cost factor however can be disproved in that while the cost of the surgery costed more, the outcomes of the surgery enabled the cost to decrease over time (Morgan 249). Considering the lack of complications, less post operative care, and shorter stay at hospital after the surgery, it is understandable why cost would not drastically increase (Morgan 249). Another factor that causes people to oppose robotic surgery is the extended surgery time. In one study conducted by Columbia University, results showed that the average cardiopulmonary bypass time was 42 minutes, 39 minutes, and 11 minutes longer than a complete sternotomy, partial sternotomy, and thoracotomy, respectively. This study overall showed that the average bypass time is longer for a robotic procedure. A complication that can arise from this longer procedure is patient hypothermia (Chauhan 170). This complication however can be prevented using certain procedures and precautions, so as long as these precautions are taken the risk of