Research drives development in every field of
science, medicine being no exception. Medical research programs today focus not
only on developing treatments for illnesses that are not treatable or curable,
but on developing new surgical tools as well – here are some new research
direction that already have serious impact and are likely to become even more
important in the future:
- Robotic surgery – using robots in the OR allows doctors to increase the accuracy of the interventions and to have more control over the process. The future is likely to see robot-assisted surgical interventions become common even in small hospitals;
- Virtual reality – VR is increasingly used by surgeons to learn and to practice new techniques, allowing them to acquire the necessary experience and dexterity to perform the new procedure safely on live patients;
- Minimally invasive surgery – the scalpel is used less and less in surgeries today, its role being taken over by laparoscopic devices. Medical researchers and engineers have already been working together successfully to develop new devices that allow for minimizing the size of the incisions needed for performing the intervention and their collaboration will continue in the future as well. Along with the new tools, new imaging technologies are also under development. Most of the surgical instruments suppliers sell the latest in technology.
