“The future of surgery ‘€“ and medicine in general ‘€“ is not in blood and guts, but in bits and bytes,” says University of Cape Town Prof of Cardiothoracic Surgery Ulrich Von Oppell.

Von Oppell recently spent seven months at the University of Leipzig which, in his opinion, has one of the most up-to-date robotic theatres in the world.

Apart from increasing surgical control and precision, robotic surgery makes possible new surgical procedures which could never be done by the human hand.

To conduct coronary artery bypass graft surgery without robotic technology, surgeons must split open the sternum and go through the chest to get to the heart. By comparison, robotic instruments go in through tiny “ports” so that heart surgery can be conducted without opening the chest at all.

As the technology improves, doctors will also be able to conduct operations in remote areas from the comfort on their own offices or homes. According to Von Oppell, robotic surgery has already been conducted in America by a surgeon who was operating on a patient in another state.

“I only hope that the University of Cape Town will be able to join the rest of the world in going into the future with robotic surgery, said Von Oppell, who feels hopeful that the cost of investing in a robotic theatre will rapidly decrease.

Von Oppell argues that robotic technology is not in the realm of “boys playing with toys” but is an essential tool, which will become the norm in surgery within five to ten years.

“It will become more cost-effective than conventional “hands-in” surgery because there is no need for surgical assistants and patient’€™s will make a better, faster recovery because the surgery will be less invasive. 100% precision means better patient outcomes and less hospitalisation for complications.”