How robot assisted surgery works (as explained by a surgeon)

What exactly is robot assisted surgery, and what does the (human) surgeon actually do? In this video, I take you inside the operating room with Dr. Sanghyun Kim, one of the chiefs of colorectal surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital. He explains how he operates using a robot, and also shares insights into his background and life as a surgeon.

0:00 Start
0:37 What is robot assisted surgery?
2:24 Advantages
3:32 Challenges
4:13 Artificial intelligence?
4:54 Life as a surgeon

The patient shown in this video provided written consent for their surgery to be filmed and posted on YouTube.

The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional.

#Anesthesiology #Residency #MedicalSchool

[shellderp]

A colorectal surgeon gave me my life back from crippling Crohn's disease. They are incredible

[benbookworm]

As a pharmacy technician that restocks the operating rooms, I can confirm that the anesthesiologists have excellent chairs.

[stevehornett]

Max, please don't stop offering these videos that are informative, approachable and inclusive of humor. Well done! You remain my anesthesiologist of choice.

[janinerogerson]

I’m a registered nurse in Australia 🇦🇺 and live for your vids 🤟 you're the best - I wish all Anestesiologists had your ethics and knowledge

[DominicNJ]

What a fun video, I can see you and Dr Kim have a great rapport. On the topic of robotic assisted surgery, it is absolutely fascinating. Around 4-5 years ago my brother needed a CABG procedure and he turned out to be a great candidate for the robotic assisted surgery, which he received. His recovery was amazing, he was up and going barely a week following the surgery with nothing but a small scar under his left pectoral.

[jenniferdahl]

We just got our first DaVinci 4 months ago. As a 36 year surgical tech, this has probably been the most challenging learning experience I’ve had. Suddenly left essentially alone with the patient, swapping out instruments, learning what each button does, and what the lights mean, etc, has been very stressful. I’ve never had to roll mesh before and insert it. It’s hard to get that tight enough. Learning total joints with a MAKO robot was a piece of cake compared to the DaVinci, but I’ll get it.

[amethyst]

Thanks for this video! Love seeing the different aspects of the OR.

[lesleynyborg]

Max!! Thank you! I just had a robot partial nephrectomy 3 weeks ago. I was really hoping to SEE the OR but I was out shortly after leaving pre-op! I forgot to ask!

[simonmcglary]

Robotic laparoscopy is used in the NHS here in the UK. I had a right side hemicolectomy done last August. That operation went brilliantly. Unfortunately I picked up a blood clot in the left subclavian vein which happened to be the arm the post op patient controlled analgesia was going in to. As a result I don’t think the pain relief helped that first night. If you’ve ever had kidney stones, the post op discomfort is easy anyway! Pretty much well healed by 8 weeks and at 8 months some of the smaller incisions are fading away! My situation has been an unfortunate rare event, otherwise, a complete success!

[Hiear]

Okay, so I have a question for any anesthesiologists here, completely unrelated to this video.
When patient have a sudden, unexpected big blood loss during operation, of course blood, various blood products or saline are administered, but these products do not contain any anesthetics, so in chemistry terms you're basically diluting the solution of various medications in patient's body. Does this affect the maintenance of general anesthesia and/or the level of other medications you administer? And if so, I was also thinking if this problem would be more serious with pediatric patients? You know, because of smaller volume of blood in their bodies.

[LuxFlyer]

Loving your videos Max, please keep them going! As an oropharyngeal cancer patient who’s recently had TORS, it’s clearly such a revolutionary innovation, making access to the back of tongue and throat possible without breaking jaws etc. The gaming chairs though…

[therealmdh]

Our hospital just got a DiVinci about 8 months ago. It was interesting to do the demo of moving tiny bands from 1 place to another

[janetgibson]

I had robot surgery to remove part of colon. Surgery was on Monday I did not remember anything till Thursday. I was under for five hours.

[razz]

Great vid as I prepare for my own first surgery, robotic prostatectomy. Thank you both!
Been consulting- not clinical - to the anesthesiology dept at a teaching hospital in NYC for several years. About a year into my assignment, I was struck by lightening : these people keep you alive while you’re basically being tortured to death, and make sure that not only are you not aware of it, you won’t remember it! Full Respect.

[grandpahickory]

they used 4 robots in my esophageal them over 4 and half hours to do all the stitching of my shredded ate tostadas, and hot sauce for years, my surgeon explained it was like eating crushed glass that's why the esophagus was shredded to pieces....i do not eat tostados or any crispy corn chips of any kind since learning all don't know how bad processed chips cause damage on the never felt pain, the surgeon explained the esophagus as well as other organs inside our bodies do not feel any pain, so the brain is unaware of the damage going on

[KTMgirl]

That was very informative, thank you for your video's!!!

[git_r_done_]

Hospital Playlist is *much* better than Grey's Anatomy! 😁

[Dani]

Amazing!!! Thank you to all the Doctors, Nurses, and all the staffs of the hospitals saving people’s lives every ❤

[CHRIS-tgcn]

Robotic surgery has no significant advantages vs standard laparoscopic case (exception: robotic prostatectomies help with nerve sparing). The way the procedure is done still with laparoscopic principals and instruments. as far as “Seeing better”, it’s a lot more feasible to buy a better laparoscopic camera and monitor vs a robot which is upwards of $1M new. The instruments also cost more and require longer washing/sterilization times. The robot, unlike laparoscope equipment, is highly recommended to stay in one OR which limits turnover times and available use.

When the surgeon talks about ‘’articulating arms like wrists, ’ this is easily overcome by a competent surgeon. There’s a saying in ORs: ‘robots make a bad surgeon ok, and a good surgeon good.’’

So why would a hospital pay for a huge expense + ongoing servicing? Bc at the moment insurances reimburse more for robotic procedures. Why? Idk. But again, no improved outcomes vs standard laparoscopy 9outside of one case type).


When ur surgeon talks about recovery times for robotic surgery, they’re essentially the same as…wait for it….laparoscopic cases. And when a colorectal surgeon goes to remove a piece of bowel they’ve rejected, there’s still a decent size minilaparotomy incision they have to make to get the bowel out.

Don’t be fooled into paying more for same results.

[AndreiDorofeev]

2:40 it was almost as good as asking the surgeon about his work-life balance lol