TRIP

Pricey surgery robots lack clear benefits: study

Reuters Health News, 2012

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A neurosurgery robot arm is demonstrated in Calgary, Alberta April 17, 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As robots march into operating rooms across the nation, some doctors are getting worried that patients might not be better off with the costly machines.
In the latest study to cast doubt on the technology, researchers found similar complication rates among women treated for endometrial cancer whether or not surgeons got help from a robot.
Yet robotic surgery costs about $1,300 more than the low-tech approach, called laparoscopy, in addition to the upfront cost to the hospital of the machine itself.
In a report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, he and his colleagues say millions of dollars could be saved by switching from robotic surgery to traditional laparoscopy, adding that official regulation might be needed.
"The newer, more technologically advanced ones aren't always better." The results fuel concerns that robotic surgery has been hyped unduly by manufacturers and hospitals wishing to justify purchasing the expensive machines, which cost between $1 million and $2.25 million each.
Earlier this year, a study showed men who had their prostate removed due to cancer complained just as frequently about sexual problems and urinary leakage after robotic surgery as when they'd had the traditional surgery.
Other researchers have found that hospitals that invest in robots see spikes in the number of surgeries they do, raising concerns that the technology could lead to unnecessary treatments.
ROBOT SURGERY NO SAFER Wright's team tapped into data from hospitals across the U.S., including nearly 2,500 women who had had their uterus removed due to endometrial cancer.
Nearly 60 percent of the women in the new study had robotic surgery, during which the surgeon sits at a console, operating robotic "arms" that use fine tools to extract the uterus through small cuts in the abdomen.