CHICAGO – A system that allows surgeons to perform laparoscopic
gastric bypass surgery from a remote console, controlling up to
three robotic arms and a binocular camera, was successfully
tested in 10 patients, according to a study in the August issue
of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The
laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery (a Roux-en-Y procedure) is
often considered the most challenging minimally invasive
procedure in general surgery, requiring a learning curve of 75
to100 cases for even experienced surgeons to achieve the highest
level of proficiency, according to background information in the
article. Although robotic surgical techniques have been
developed to assist laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, the
complex geometry of the surgery has required repositioning of
the robot, complicating its use. Catherine J. Mohr, M.S.M.E., of
the Stanford School of Medicine, Calif., and colleagues report
the first 10 patients to undergo a totally robotic laparoscopic
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass