Informatic surgery: the union of surgeon and machine

Abstract

Objective: Surgical robotics present new and unique opportunities for the training and practice of neurosurgery, beyond the promise of the minimally invasive paradigm.

Methods: Robotic systems have been developed that simulate the sight, sound, and touch of surgery allowing surgical training to evolve past an apprenticeship and patient-based model towards standardization and virtual training.

Results: The development of data-driven surgery, incorporating all information available to the human senses and advanced imaging modalities, give the modern surgeon an abundance of knowledge of the operative objectives and surgical site. Notwithstanding the automation of computers, the surgeon must not be excluded from this feedback loop as computer hardware and software is as-yet unable to compare to human data synthesis and decision making.

Conclusions: It is this union of surgeon and machine and the continued evolution of surgery toward a data-driven science rather than an experiential art that are required for the definitive advancement of patient outcomes.