Humanity has made progress in medicine, going from bloodletting to brain surgery. But many problems remain unsolved. People are looking for their Dr. House and expecting scientists, who are constantly searching for a panacea, to make a major breakthrough. But some of what once seemed like science fiction is already available today. For example, robotic surgery. Why do many specialists and patients perceive it with hostility? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Read the material prepared by our editorial team.
Anatomy is painting
When Pier Giulianotti was a medical student, he couldn’t stand the sight of blood. In the mid-1970s, while on a scholarship from his native Italy to study in Spain, he once witnessed a lung resection: “ I almost passed out ,” Pierre recalls. “ I had to sit in a corner . The next day, I attended a plastic surgery procedure. It was less brutal. The patient had a burn spain number data scar on her face. First, the surgeons removed the damaged skin… Have you seen the movie The Terminator? My legs were shaking, but I tried to resist. After the surgeons prepared the graft by tearing healthy skin from the woman’s thigh – a strange sound, like cutting off a piece of salami – I had to sit on the chair of shame again .” Giulianotti thought about quitting medicine, but his desire to help patients was stronger. The young doctor overcame his disgust and decided to specialize in surgery, but continued to wonder whether his practice could be improved.
"I am a Tuscan and I think that anatomy is painting. Of course, there is a more artistic way of interacting with the human body."
He trained as a doctor and completed his residency at the University of Pisa and the University of Milan, two of Italy’s top medical schools. In the mid-1980s, he became an expert in laparoscopic surgery, in which a doctor inserts a camera through a small incision and then uses the video to guide surgical instruments inserted into the body through other incisions. Minimally invasive surgery speeds recovery and reduces hospital stays. But he found that using laparoscopic equipment was disorienting – one problem was the image, which, depending on the position of the probe inside the body, could be backwards.
Giulianotti recalls attending a conference in Germany in 1999 hosted by Johnson & Johnson, where the company demonstrated a prototype robotic arm for use in surgery. The reaction was lukewarm – the surgeons in attendance said they just wanted better laparoscopic instruments. Johnson & Johnson shelved the project, but Giulianotti was inspired by the concept.