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every now and then an industry goes
through a technology disruption with
surgery that's come with the
introduction of robotics at intuitive we
continue to push the envelope to make
surgery better I've been working in
robotics for the last 27 years the thing
that most excited me was the day I got
to sit down and drive a dementia it's
hard to beat that ever did I think that
I would be working to design a
technology that would help save my life
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I'm Ted Rogers and I'm the vice
president of imaging advanced
development at intuitive I run the team
that develops camera systems for our
products part of the system is a 3d
robotic camera that goes into the body
and allows the surgeon to see what
they're doing as humans we use all of
our senses right let me use a sense of
sight the sense of smell the sense of
touch
surgery has sometimes hampered that full
sense of engagement and interaction as
you've gone through the continuum of
surgery an open procedure surgeon has
the ability to use full dexterity of
their wrists they can see the surgical
site in 3d now they have to make a large
decision so they can access the
appropriate Anatomy and these large
incisions can be a challenge for
recovery time for the patient in
laparoscopic surgery is a minimally
invasive approach that followed you
actually have to move your hand up to
move the tip of the instrument down left
is right down is up and so the surgeons
have to have this mental remapping as
they're looking at a 2d screen and the
dexterity was completely lost so when we
came in and said all right we believe
that a robotic assistant approach will
be much better our first mission was to
give back 3d vision and dexterity inside
the body we're proud of what we've
accomplished over the last twenty four
years da Vinci systems have been used in
more than seven million procedures and
we have more than 5,000 systems
installed worldwide
the whole point of the robot is to
minimize invasiveness of the surgery so
we're using instruments that are only
about 8 millimeters in diameter about
the size of my pinky funnier now we're
starting to focus on how can we show the
surgeon things they can't see with their
own eyes
so today The Da Vinci system has what we
call Firefly which is a near infrared
imaging system the surgeon can use to
visualize certain structures like the
bile duct during gallbladder surgery or
judging blood flow during a colorectal
procedure this is just one way that we
can help the surgeon gain more
information about the structures that
they're working on during the surgery in
April 2017 I was diagnosed with
aggressive prostate cancer I was 48
years old and I faced the prospect that
I might not be alive by at the same time
the next year is this the last time that
I'll ever go sailing well I get to see
my kids grow up will I outlive my dog I
was fortunate to get an appointment with
one of the top prostate surgeons on the
west coast who also happens to use our
robotic assisted systems I have two
daughters they saw me go through my own
surgery and how four as major a surgery
as that was how much of a non-event it
was went to the hospital one morning
came back the next
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having a family and to feel the love and
connection that we all have for each
other it is really the most meaningful
thing in my life I think about the world
that my kids will live in and whether my
work will make that world better
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unfortunately during prostatectomy
there's still a possibility of having
residual cancer left in the body that's
what happened to me that intuitive we
talk a lot about improving patient
outcomes that concept can sometimes
become abstract well my experience says
that this is no longer something
abstract surgery is a good thing
cures a lot of people but there's a ways
to go before you can say that it's
perfect my own experience has given me
greater insight into what's it for why
is it important Ted will never do
anything half-assed
he's always been that way and him having
a DaVinci surgery really added a renewed
focus to the fact that our job is not
done I think that we're still sort of in
the early stages of robotic assisted
surgery we continue to envision what the
future might be by improving outcomes by
helping surgeons treat their patients
more quickly more comfortably with
better precision with more information
there's something just electrifying
about that right because you realize
that if you can contribute to that then
you're actually changing the world
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