New, delicate surgery techniques to hunt for tumours could benefit from a lighter touch – but from a robot, rather than from a human hand. Canadian researchers have created a touchy-feely robot that detects tougher tumour tissue in half the time, and with 40% more accuracy than a human. The technique also minimises tissue damage.

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a new technique that may improve robotic prostate surgery by using a second robot for taking three-dimensional ultrasound images of the prostate and surrounding structures during the procedure.

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers find that outcomes of robotic assisted kidney cancer surgery, when performed by experienced surgeons at high volume centers, prove more beneficial to patients when compared to open surgery.

Using a robotic assistant to remove a patient's gallbladder by key-hole surgery (laparoscopic cholecystectomy) is as safe as working with a human assistant, a Cochrane Review has concluded.

The use of a robot to assist with the most commonly performed weight-loss surgery appears to significantly lower a patient’s risk of developing a rare but serious complication, according to a study published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Robotic Surgery.

The recent impact of medical robotics in health care delivery has been substantial. Clinicians and scientists at Imperial College London have led these developments from their inception and will have the opportunity to further research and innovate in this area, thanks to a new research centre announced today.

“We are blessed to have each other to depend on. If you have to go through something bad like cancer, you’re glad to have a friend to go through it with,” said one of two brothers from Savannah, Georgia recovering from robotic prostate cancer surgery.

Robotic surgery may be coming to your town. Robots that perform surgery can be driven by surgeons who no longer stand by the patient, but direct the operation from a computer console. In most cases the surgeon is seated at a console within the theatre, only a few metres away from the patient.