The use of robots in surgical procedures is on the rise, but they cost more and take longer to perform operations than their human counterparts, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Despite this, in a study of 24,000 kidney removal surgeries in US hospitals, JAMA researchers found that robots were used in 862 operations in 2003, compared to 39 in 2015. Studies elsewhere have demonstrated that robots used in colon, gallbladder and uterus removal are also slower and increase hospital costs.
The use of robots in surgical procedures is on the rise, but they cost more and take longer to perform operations than their human counterparts, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Despite this, in a study of 24,000 kidney removal surgeries in US hospitals, JAMA researchers found that robots were used in 862 operations in 2015, compared to 39 in 2003. Studies elsewhere have demonstrated that robots used in colon, gallbladder and uterus removal are also slower and increase hospital costs.