Misconceptions About the Robot

Is the robot performing the operation?

When robotic surgery is mentioned, patients and their relatives think that a robot performs the operation. Even though robotic technologies are very advanced, they need to accept the idea that an operation cannot take place without a doctor’s intervention. Contrary to what is believed, in robotic surgery too all the control is with the surgeon. It is only that the surgeon performs the operation using the robot arms. Thanks to these arms, they can move in many more directions and angles and can perform more skilful movements. Very difficult operations can be carried out more easily and in a shorter time with the help of the robot.

Is artificial intelligence used in the operation?

Today, because artificial intelligence has developed and come into use in many fields, when robotic surgery is mentioned it may be thought that artificial intelligence performs the operation. In the da Vinci robotic system that we use in surgery, the robot is controlled entirely by the surgeon, and there is absolutely no possibility of the robot deciding and moving on its own outside the surgeon’s wishes or failing to carry out the surgeon’s command.

Is the patient left alone in robotic operations?

One of the misconceptions about robotic surgery is the belief that the patient is left alone during the operation. Regardless of whether the operation performed is open, laparoscopic or robotic, the anaesthesia team stays at the side of every patient who has received anaesthesia during the operation. Apart from this, in robotic surgery, while the surgeon performs the operation at the robot’s console, which is also located in the operating theatre, another surgeon or assistant and the nurse responsible for the operation are at the patient’s side.