In this talk, Dr. Hager will outline some of the technical and commercial challenges in developing surgical assistance systems. Participants will 1) learn about the potential payoffs to new robotic technologies; 2) learn about the regulatory and implementation challenges of these technologies; and 3) learn about current trends in research that they may see in practice during the next decade.

He will begin by presenting two case examples: the Robodoc system developed by Integrated Surgical Systems, and the da Vinci System of Intuitive Surgical. These two systems followed very different development philosophies, and, as a result, faced very different technical and regulatory challenges.  With this as a backdrop, he will then spend then remainder of the talk discussing current research trends in computer-assisted surgery. Dr. Hager will review ongoing work aimed at improving interventional precision during image-guided percutaneous procedures such as prostate brachytherapy.  He will also discuss methods for improving precision and dexterity though robotic augmentation in minimally invasive surgery. Finally, Dr. Hager will close with a discussion of methods for information enhancement during surgery.

See-G.-Hager’s-Presentation-Trends-in-Computer-Assisted-Surgery