Robotics in colorectal surgery: Telemonitoring and telerobotics

The use of robotics is slowly gaining acceptance in surgery by application to a few niche surgical procedures. There are great opportunities for colorectal surgery with such systems. More important than the technical advantages of dexterity enhancement, tremor reduction, and precision of robotics is the fundamental change in the approach of surgery as an Information Age technology. Viewing the surgical robot as an information system allows integration of the entire process of a surgical procedure. Such systems also provide the technology to perform surgery remotely through telemonitoring and telesurgery. Based upon these principles, three scenarios are proposed that will revolutionize the way that surgeons perform surgical procedures in the future and provide insight about how the operating room of the future will change.