One 2009 study from the Royal Free Hospital and University College School of Medicine in London claims that robot-assisted gallbladder removal had no significant advantages over traditional laparoscopic surgery. A report from the Department of Surgery at the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University in China in 2010 reviewed studies of robot-assisted surgery for acid reflux and concluded that robotic surgery was a “feasible alternative” without obvious advantages.
A 2008 study of Medicare patients undergoing prostate removal — one of the most common uses of the robot — found that adverse effects such as sexual dysfunction and incontinence were no less frequent than with open surgery.
A 2011 study from Johns Hopkins University revealed that hospitals tout the increased effectiveness of robotic surgery when marketing their surgical services: 89 percent of descriptions on hospital websites claimed clinical superiority for robotic surgery.
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Open Source Robotic Surgery to be Researched at U.S. Universities
