Patient and physician looking at screen in exam room

C-QODE Use Case: Robotic Surgery

3 minutes

In recent times, there have been major developments in automated robotics for various industries to create effective outcomes. One classic example of this type of development is the use of self-driving motor vehicles. And, while these advancements are intriguing, there is still much more to learn.

Using artificial intelligence, the surgical field is also hoping to one day perform procedures with robotic assistance for more safer and efficient surgeries. To do that, recording as many surgeries as possible, combined with data on patient outcomes will lead to future building blocks where automation can help guide surgeons. The project, “Database of High-Quality Robotic Surgery Video and Kinematic Performance” will aim to mimic the surgical field, automate tasks and train a surgical robot to complete a live synthetic test environment for surgical training

Led by a U of M Medical School faculty member from the Department of Surgery – Assistant Professor, Elliot Arsoniadis, MD, PhD, shares the strategy needed for the future of robot-assisted surgeries through the Center for Clinical Quality & Outcomes Discovery and Evaluation (C-QODE):

  1. Get involved: submit videos of laparoscopic and robotic surgical procedures performed, as well as patient-consented care outcomes. 
  2. Assemble: a robust catalog of robotic-assisted use cases and data.
  3. Build: a multidisciplinary relationship with groups like the Minnesota Robotics Institute and other interdisciplinary groups like the Center for Learning Health System Sciences, to develop solutions where surgical procedures could be improved through automation.

Get Involved with C-QODE

Dr. Arsoniadis encourages anyone who is interested in contributing to the database to submit their research and recorded robotic surgical procedures. “Our initial goals are to automate some surgical performance of basic level tasks, such as tying a knot or closing an incision,” Dr. Arsoniadis said. “The vision is to continue these developments well into the future where robotic performance can mimic tasks as a skilled assistant.”

The concept of using a robot, he explains, will never replace the surgeon, but instead act as an extension of the human surgeon by giving it prompt commands. “The surgeon remains 100% of the intelligence that is being used,” Dr. Arsoniadis said. “Eventually, we would like the robot to make inferences about what is going on during procedures for more efficient operations.”

Leveraging Big Data

While most robotic surgery-related programs are still in their infancy, historical developments in the field are expected to occur in the near future.

At the M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, Dr. Arsoniadis currently works with the Intuitive Surgical® daVinci® Surgical System – the only FDA-approved surgical robot for use in the abdominal and pelvic cavity.

“We would like to become one of the first initiated surgical robotic centers in the country, so it’s critical that we start engaging in this now,” Dr. Arsoniadis said. “We’re really starting at level one and adjusting to the first set of stages in gathering data to power these algorithms.” 

Multidisciplinary Partnerships

Dr. Arsoniadis recommends collaborating with internal and outside partners for enhanced problem solving and creative ideas in robotics and AI. The robotics team already has established partnerships the Program for Clinical AI within the Center for Learning Health Systems Sciences.

“We have also recently started working with the Minnesota Robotics Institute, a multidisciplinary team from the U of M College of Engineering,” Dr. Arsoniadis said. “Together we will combine clinical use cases and data with industrial expertise to solve surgical problems through ways of automation.”

Over the next year, the two teams will be building the groundwork for the initial use of robotic assistance to automatically perform an incision closure and tying a knot.

“I do roughly 30 to 50% of intra-abdominal surgeries using some robotic modality,” Dr. Arsoniadis said. “There are learning curves to all of it, but it is most rewarding to build these skills for decades to come.”