Robotic surgery 'misleading'

An estimated four in 10 hospital Web sites in the US promote the use of robotic surgery, despite a lack of scientific evidence that robotic surgery is any better than conventional operations, a new John Hopkins study shows, reports Trade Arabia.

The promotional materials, researchers report online in the Journal for Healthcare Quality, overestimate the benefits of surgical robots, largely ignore the risks and are strongly influenced by the product's manufacturer, said the Johns Hopkins study.

“The public regards a hospital's official Web site as an authoritative source of medical information in the voice of a physician,” says Marty Makary, MD, MPH, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study's leader.

According to Fierce Healthcare, this is not apparent after reviewing hospital Web sites that promote its use, he said. For example, 33% of hospital Web sites that make robot claims say the device yields better cancer outcomes - a point, he said, is misleading to vulnerable cancer populations seeking top care.

However, the key to successful robotic surgery is the same as any other surgery, namely the skill and experience of the surgeon, Dr David B Samadi, chief of robotics and minimally invasive surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City said.

“This technology in the hands of an experienced surgeon is a great tool, but if you don't have the adequate training it could be quite dangerous,” he said.

The procedure is being oversold, Samadi added, and it is sometimes being done by inexperienced surgeons, reveals Healthday.