What Role do Robotics Play in Mesothelioma Treatment?
Dr. Farid Gharagozloo explains the exciting role robotics play in mesothelioma surgery.
[MUSIC PLAYING] The role of robotics in the treatment of mesothelioma, again, in my view, is to start looking at surgery in a different light. People have given up on the role of surgery in treating this disease because the outcomes are not good. The disease is aggressive. The surgery is also aggressive. And frankly, with all that aggression at the end, the outcomes are really not any different than if you didn't do the surgery. So that's really been our marching orders and trying to understand, can we use new technology to really differentiate the patients? This effort has been recognized around the world. The first patient who had robotic-assisted pleurectomy was done in 2013. We have done, I think, about eight or nine such patients. So it's not a large number. But every single patient is alive. That is a very, very strong statement. Again, empiric data, this is not a randomized study, but most people would realize that a patient diagnosed and operated on in 2013 being alive in 2017 means something is happening. And we need to take note of that. [MUSIC PLAYING]
