Researchers studied the cases of 169,404 patients in 73 hospitals, examining whether a robotic, laparoscopic or open surgical approach was used in each.
What you should know:
1. The use of robotics for inguinal hernia repair surgery surged from 0.7 percent to 28.8 percent in the time frame studied.
2. In the first four years after hospitals began performing robotic surgery, use of the technique increased 8.8 percent.
3. Higher utilization coincided with a slight decrease in laparoscopic surgery from 53.2 percent to 51.3 percent.
4. Before they adopted robotic surgery, hospitals’ use of laparoscopic surgery increased 1.3 percent annually.
5. Researchers said the findings come amid concerns that robotic surgery is more costly and “may be no more effective than other established operative approaches.”
“These findings highlight a need to continually monitor the adoption of robotic surgery to ensure that enthusiasm for new technology does not outpace the evidence needed to use it in the most effective clinical contexts,” they concluded.
More articles on devices:
Dr. Hugh Bassewitz predicts more spine surgeons migrating to robotic technology
Planned $240M University of Rochester facility to provide spine, orthopedic care
Alphatec 2019 revenue hits $113M: 5 things to know
