UCSF Gastrointestinal Surgery: How Technology is Lending a Hand
“When you see someone who’s good at doing something, it looks easy,” Dr. Carter told us as we observed him perform a hernia repair. He has years of experience with minimally invasive techniques in gastrointestinal surgery and shared with us the benefits of using these methods for the recovery of his patients. Using laparoscopic and robotic-assisted techniques reduces the risk of complications and drastically reduces the patient’s recovery time. During the surgeries, we learned about the robot he uses and our previous visit to the company gave us insight on their concept selection process and why specific features were designed.
BIE observed Dr. Carter in two separate visits; he performed two hernia repairs and a gallbladder removal in the first visit, and two hernia repairs during the second visit. For three of the hernia repairs, Dr. Carter used a robotic-assisted laparoscopic technique, for which the robot was Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci. The gallbladder removal was performed using a laparoscopic technique, and the last hernia repair was an open surgery. We had the opportunity to see what gall bladder stones look like and learned about their formation and effect on the quality of life of the patient.
During the surgery, everyone in the operating room was able to see what the surgeon was seeing in real time through the robot’s 3D visualization system. Seeing this technology in action after the visit to the company that created it was very valuable. During the company visit we learned about their concept selection process, which included comparing the potential benefits of each design and asking surgeons for feedback. In surgery we saw the selected designs and how they made very precise movements and sutures possible for the surgeon. The learning curve for adopting this technique varies depending on the experience of the surgeon and whether they are already familiar with minimally invasive and laparoscopic techniques, which was the case for Dr. Carter.
Observing the surgeries at UCSF Gastrointestinal Surgery department gave us the opportunity to learn about needs surgeons still have, existing technologies and how bioengineers can contribute to improving these technologies or create new ones. We ended our visit with a picture with Dr. Carter and left fascinated and inspired.
