Arab Health Exhibition and Congress 2013, a major healthcare event opening tomorrow in Dubai, is hosting a talk on innovations, robotic surgery and the impact it will have on the healthcare industry in the region.

The 38th Arab Health Exhibition and Congress will run until January 31 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

“There have been significant successes and challenges in healthcare systems in the 20th century, with a major focus on technology innovation and clinical translation,” said keynote speaker Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham PC, KBE.

“In addition to technology advances, such as robotic surgery, there are number of low cost high impact solutions such as surgical safety checklists that have also contributed significantly to improved patient outcomes.”

Research led by Lord Darzi is directed towards achieving best surgical practice through both surgical innovation and enhancing the safety and quality of healthcare.

Robotic surgery has been around since the early 1990’s and its popularity continues to grow.  Also known as computer-assisted surgery, it is estimated to be used in almost 200,000 operations per year across the world. Potential benefits for both healthcare professionals and patients include better visualization and controlled movement, which reduces tissue trauma.

An increasing number of operations are able to be conducted using the robotic system and in some cases, operations have been conducted remotely by the surgeon.

To evaluate the benefits of robotic surgery the world society of robotic surgery SRS collects data about mortality, morbidity, intraoperative blood loss and postoperative outcome.

Associate Prof Dr Rolf Hartung, head of General Surgery in Dubai Hospital, believes that robotic surgery will be an integral part of minimally invasive surgery in every center of excellence in the near future.

He said: “Already nowadays 44 per cent of all radical prostatectomies are carried out with the help of robots in developed countries. The benefits are reduction of intraoperative blood loss and better preservation of the innervation with lesser incidence of functional deficiencies.

“Meanwhile, almost every possible minimally invasive surgery has been conducted as robotic surgery including gastro-intestinal, colo-rectal, endocrine, hepato-biliary, pancreatic, hernia, cardio-thoracic, bariatric and others.”

Simon Page, managing director, Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, organisers of Arab Health, said: “Robotic surgery is on the increase in the Mena region; Saudi Arabia has seen the strongest development of the use of robotic surgery during the past ten years, closely followed by both Egypt and Qatar. New robotic surgery cases and newly adapted robotic procedures will pave the way for hospitals to potentially increase their treatment numbers.” – TradeArabia News Service