Advantages of Bariatric surgery with Robotics

The surgical robot is completely computer-aided controlled by the surgeon. This robot is a medical device to increase the performance of the surgical procedure to be applied. The surgeries performed with these devices are called robot-assisted surgeries or robotic surgery in general. The use of the Da Vinci Surgical System for general laparoscopic surgery was approved by the FDA in 2000. Since 2000, robotic surgery has spread rapidly and more than 3 million people have been operated with this method until today. Robotic surgery operations are performed by surgeons with robotic console surgeon certificate in hospitals with the da Vinci Surgical System.

In the surgical treatment of obesity, which is an important health problem today, robotic surgery is a procedure that has been frequently applied in recent years. After the first gallbladder surgery performed by Dr. Cadiere and his friends in Brussels for the first time in 1997, the da Vinci Robotic Surgery System broke new ground in the field of surgery.

After the implementation of the first robotic bariatric surgery by the same team in 1999, standard laparoscopic bariatric surgeries such as sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, duodenal switch started to be performed all over the world with robotic methods. Among these surgeries, especially the robotic gastric bypass method is the more intense field of robotic surgery. In addition, the second corrective bariatric surgeries, which we call revisional, are performed with robotic methods in patients whose first bariatric surgery was performed incorrectly or was insufficient.

Gastric bypass surgery is an effective, safe and sustainable procedure and has been defined as a gold standard procedure by IFSO (International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases), ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) and NIH (National Institutes of Health). However, laparoscopic gastric bypass is a procedure that requires advanced laparoscopic skills and has a high level of difficulty among closed surgeries. An important reason why laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is the majority of bariatric surgeries performed in our country is the difficulty of laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery.

Thanks to the 3D, high-resolution camera system and wrist-controlled, ergonomic robotic arms offered by robotic surgery, the results of the applied robotic gastric bypass are remarkable. Recent advances in robotic technology, especially automatic staplers that can be applied robotically, have made the robotic method an important option against laparoscopy in bariatric surgery.

The difficulties in classical laparoscopic surgery are loss of depth sense, loss of hand-eye coordination and loss of intuitive movement. These difficulties become more prominent in advanced laparoscopic surgeries such as gastric bypass and duodenalswitch in the field of obesity. The robotic arms we use in robotic surgery are wrist-controlled, ergonomic, eliminate vibration and provide freedom of movement to the surgeon.

The 3D robotic camera also avoids the loss of depth sense and has a better magnification capacity, making the surgeon feel like their hands are inside the patient's body. While laparoscopic surgery is performed standing next to the patient and looking directly at the monitor, robotic surgery is performed more comfortably by sitting on a console separate from the patient.

The incisions we use in robotic surgery are small. For this reason, the risk of postoperative pain and infection in patients is less than in open surgeries. The cosmetic results are better, and the possibility of intra-abdominal adhesions and wound hernia in the long term is extremely low. Patients stay in hospital and return to their normal physical activities are shorter. When compared with laparoscopic surgery, the amount of blood loss in the surgery is seen less in robotic surgeries.