Advances in Care

The Surgical Robot: Advancing Medicine with Robot-Assisted Technology

Episode 19
The Surgical Robot: Advancing Medicine with Robot-Assisted Technology
The Surgical Robot: Advancing Medicine with Robot-Assisted Technology

Dr. Jason Hawksworth, Dr. Tamatha Fenster, and Dr. Arnar Geirsson come from different specialties, but one thing unites them: the implementation of surgical robotics to advance their practices. In this episode, the doctors discuss how robots are revolutionizing the fields of hepatobiliary, gynecological, and cardiac surgeries–and what’s coming next for the future of medicine.

With perspectives spanning hepatobiliary, gynecologic, and cardiac surgeries, NewYork-Presbyterian’s Dr. Jason Hawksworth (Columbia), Dr. Tamatha Fenster (Weill Cornell Medicine), and Dr. Arnar Geirsson (Columbia) describe how they each came to incorporate robotics into their practices. One of the biggest takeaways: robotic surgeries allow for more accuracy in minimally-invasive approaches; so patients experience shorter hospital stays and quicker recoveries, even after major procedures. But there are some limitations to robotic surgeries that the doctors are still navigating. Dr. Fenster discusses how there are haptics limitations in robotic surgery. As a result, she shares more about her innovative smartHER 3D MRI program that is addressing this issue and details how her and her team are developing a way of holographically projecting 3D MRIs over patients to help guide surgeons while they operate.