ROBOTS CAN NOW HELP WITH SURGERY — AND THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOOD AT IT

Mario Nawfal

@MarioNawfal
🚨 ROBOTS CAN NOW HELP WITH SURGERY — AND THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOOD AT IT

Medtronic tested its Hugo robot in 137 real surgeries — fixing prostates, kidneys, and bladders — and the results were better than doctors expected.

Complication rates were super low: just 3.7% for prostate surgeries, 1.9% for kidney surgeries, and 17.9% for bladder surgeries, all beating safety goals from years of research.

The robot got a 98.5% success rate, way above the 85% goal — meaning it didn’t just pass the test, it basically set the curve.

Out of 137 surgeries, only 2 needed to switch back to regular surgery — 1 because of a robot glitch, and 1 because of a tricky patient case.

This doesn’t mean robots are replacing surgeons tomorrow, but it does mean your next doctor might have a very expensive metal sidekick.

Source: RTTNews

Mario Nawfal

@MarioNawfal
TINY DISSOLVABLE PACEMAKER COULD SAVE NEWBORNS AND ADULTS

A new dissolvable pacemaker, smaller than a grain of rice and powered by light, offers hope for newborns and adults with heart defects.

It can be implanted using a syringe, avoiding invasive surgery.

About 1% of infants are born with heart issues, often needing a temporary implant for seven days to let the heart heal naturally. In low-resource areas, this can be fatal due to limited medical access.

For adults, traditional pacemakers involve sewing electrodes onto the heart, with wires exiting the chest, risking infection, tissue damage, and clots.

This innovation could reduce those dangers significantly.

Source: Nature