If you have read my prior blog posts or saw my videos about the problems with laparoscopic surgery, you will recall that because the surgeon is outside of the body and using instruments, she loses the ability to feel (touch) the anatomy. The ability to touch and fell during surgery is very important because tactile sensation can help the surgeon with the surgical anatomy and pathological processes that are going on.
Medical press recently published an article explaining that researchers have developed a wireless capsule that can restore the sense of touch that surgeons lose doing minimally invasive (laparoscopic and percutaneous) procedures.
The article explains – what I’ve stated that during open surgical procedures, when the doctor’s hands are inside the body, the doctor relies on her sense of touch to located hidden blood vessels, organs, anatomical structures and hidden tumors. The loss of the ability to feel, put pressure on and manipulate the anatomy is lost when the doctor’s hands are outside the body.
In order to overcome this obstacle, researchers designed a wireless capsule that they put into the body, which allows the surgeon to place the capsule against a tissue or organ, and transmit information about the stiffness of the tissue to a computer.
This is fascinating stuff. Overall, minimally invasive surgeries are better for recovery; however, doctors get into trouble and commit malpractice when they take the procedure for granted and allow their egos to trump patient safety.
If you have any questions about a minimally invasive or laparoscopic surgery that went wrong, you can shoot me an email.