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Ophthalmic surgeons have better options than using robots
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CHICAGO – Robotic surgery offers a number of advantages for surgeons, but for ophthalmologists, robots fall short of current options, a speaker said here.
Robots offer advantages in maneuverability, tremor filtering and motion scaling, Wallace Chamon, MD, said at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting, but they also have disadvantages.
“Nowadays, the commercially available robot does not have as good optics as we have in our microscopes,” he said. However, robots are being developed specifically for ophthalmology and are "very promising."
These robots, now in the prototype stage, will offer the image quality that ophthalmic surgeons need along with the various benefits of current machines, such as greater freedom through a 360-degree range of motion and a virtual third arm to hold tissue aside while cutting, Dr. Chamon said.
Still, robots cannot provide the instant, hands-on “force feedback” of the surgeon actually touching tissue, he said. Furthermore, Dr. Chamon said, surgeons already have lasers as a better option for cutting.
“I don’t think the robot will help us in cutting anything, because the laser cuts better, but it can help us,” he said.
- Disclosure: Dr. Chamon has no financial disclosures.