JUNE - 20198ROBOTICS: CHANGING THE FUTURE OF PATIENT HEALTHCAREWhat are the current market trends you see shaping the Robotics Surgery space?Robotic surgery is continuing to grow, not just in the United States but globally. I expect it will grow further, as we see improved access to the technology and more efficacious outcomes across specialties. For example, in urology the gold standard procedure for prostate cancer is radical prostatectomy. This procedure has certainly been revolutionized by the robot, and now is almost totally robotically performed --a standard of care with over 90% of the procedure being performed robotically in the U.S. As more patients and surgeons have access to the robot, robotic surgery will continue to increase across specialties. In the upcoming years, there will be some new robots being released which will probably help to increase the trend to robotic surgery.While robotic surgeries are increasing by an average of 25 percent every year, this healthcare IT phenomenon was not the game-changer that many had hoped. Almost two decades from that first robotic operation, a number of setbacks have persisted--what are your views on this trend?Robotic surgery has steppedinto more specialties, and different types of operations, primarily because access to the technology is improved, along with better training and education. As a result of increased experience, the outcomes have started to get better for most of the procedures as well. It's been an evolution, with better outcomes and more access. On the contrary, some specialties have shown that maybe there is no benefit. Robotic surgery is not for all patients or all operations.Dr.Vipul Patel, Medical Director, Global Robotics Institute, AdventHealthByGoing back to prostate cancer and prostatectomy, we have seen good effectiveness and improved outcomes using robotic surgery; however, some procedures have not seen the benefits of robotics. And so having a robot doesn't mean that you have a better outcome automatically; you do have to train, select the right patients and once you have a good experience then you could probably have the most benefit from using the robot. The bottom line is, just having a technology doesn't automatically mean it is better; it has to be demonstrated by having experience from the surgeon and then having good outcomes on follow-up. I have performed over twelve thousand robotic prostatectomies for prostate cancer, and we have an outcomes database for all these patients. Based on our decade and a half of experience we can say conclusively that we have good evidence-based medicine for robotic prostatectomy. In our hands, robotics has helped us surpass what outcomes we were able to deliver with open or laparoscopic surgery. Please elaborate on the challenges that the organizations will need to address related to Robotics Surgery space.One of the challenges is around training, as it's not easy to train someone in robotic surgery. Training has improved over the years, and we have to continue to develop better training protocols. However, advanced trainingis not optimal yet and the learning curve is still quite significant.Cost is another major challenge. It can take a few million dollars to purchase, maintain and use these robotic technologies. These technologies are expensive and cost-prohibitive in some places. The economics of robotics only makes sense if you have significant patient volumes, are In My Opinion
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