Robotic surgeons take the heart into their own hands: 400 successful operations, 98% survival rate

Why did we find this interesting? Because robotics in surgery increases survival rates - and this concerns every person. Let's give the floor to the author of the original article, and then together we will see how things are in this area in Russia.

The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Saudi Arabia has simply blown up the medical world. They have already performed 400 successful robotic heart surgeries: 98% survival rate.

These are not just numbers. This is a revolution.

KFSH&RC has turned traditional cardiac surgery upside down. Medical robots are no longer science fiction, but reality:

• less time in the hospital: after heart surgery, a patient can return home 50% faster;

• cheaper and safer: robotic surgeries are not only faster but also more economical, and complications after them are less common;

• technologies are used to save children: KFSH&RC is the only hospital in the world that performs robotic heart surgeries on children;

• complex tasks are not a problem: robots have already successfully performed numerous operations, including aortic valve replacement and multi-valve surgeries.

The world of medicine is changing

In India, the Misso robot is already helping surgeons plan and perform orthopedic surgeries. And AiM Medical Robotics has developed a robot compatible with MRI, allowing for real-time surgery planning.

Although robotic surgeries are initially more expensive, their long-term benefits are undeniable: fewer complications, faster recovery, and improved quality of life.

Robotics in the medical field in Russia

In Russia, over the past 5 years, more than 20,000 robot-assisted surgical operations have been performed. About 50 domestic companies are developing medical robotics solutions that are already being successfully implemented in Russia and abroad.

Surgical robots, bionic exoprostheses, and exoskeletons have been actively developed, helping people achieve a fundamentally new quality of life and a completely new level of medical care, allowing for operations that were previously unavailable or available but with much greater losses and consequences.

“The medical robotics market will reach $5 billion by 2026. It is increasing every year, with an average growth in service robotics of 10% to 30% compared to the previous year. Of course, service robotics includes not only medical but also other robots. The reasons for the growth of this market segment are the high percentage of successful operations, the reduction of the human factor, the increase in the number of tasks solved per unit of time, and the reduction of the rehabilitation period,” noted Olga Mudrova, Executive Director of the National Association of Robotics Market Participants (NAURR), in her report “Robotics in Medicine. Trends, Developments, and Implementation.”

Robotic automation of business processes in the medical industry

Not only hardware robots create value. The active implementation of medical robots requires the medical field not only to improve the qualifications of personnel in terms of using new equipment but also to improve business processes, reduce costs for routine operations, and shift the focus to more intelligent tasks.

If patients have to wait a long time for registration and go through administrative barriers, this can complicate their path to receiving timely and qualified medical care. Therefore, it is very important to eliminate organizational obstacles in medicine.

We at Sherpa Robotics actively cooperate with medical industry enterprises in the field of software robotization of their administrative processes.

Examples of robotic processes in medicine

• Automatic collection and analysis of patient data.

• Prediction and prevention of diseases.

• Diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

• Monitoring of patients' health status.

• Management of medical records and documents.

• Automation of processes in laboratories and clinics.

• Development and testing of new drugs and treatment methods.

Especially in the medical field, robots that can be delegated routine tasks are in demand, for example, robotization in the contract and tender process is popular. This significantly reduces the time spent on these operations and allows focusing on direct patient care.

Below are examples of operations that we have robotized for our client in the medical field.

Contract process robotization

• Automatic creation of contract templates taking into account the specifics of oncological services and drugs;

• Intelligent analysis of contracts for compliance with medical standards and healthcare legislation;

• Automated approval of contracts between company departments and partner clinics;

• Centralized storage and management of contracts in compliance with medical data confidentiality requirements.

Tender robotization

• Automatic search for tenders for the supply of oncological drugs and equipment;

• Preparation of tender documentation using specialized medical templates;

• Automated evaluation of suppliers of medical equipment and medicines;

• Management of deadlines and stages of the tender process, taking into account the urgency of deliveries.

Such robotization significantly improves the interaction of the customer with leading clinics in Moscow, accelerates the procurement processes of necessary drugs and equipment, and also improves the quality of patient care.

Robots are different. And we will increasingly encounter them in everyday life. Tell us, what robots have you already interacted with? How did your "communication" end?