Clinical trials of surgical robots are in full swing.
From the most basic appendicitis surgery to the extremely difficult heart bypass surgery, all were successfully completed with the assistance of robots.
Needless to say, appendicitis surgery, even coronary artery bypass surgery that required thoracotomy and extracorporeal circulation in the past.
With the assistance of robots, cardiac surgeons can also complete the entire operation by just making a 4-centimeter incision on the patient's chest wall with a 10-fold magnified 3D three-dimensional view of blood vessels.
Not only is the surgical wound small, no blood transfusion is required during the entire process, and there is almost no chest drainage after the operation, the patient can take a walk on the ground the next day, and can be recovered and discharged from the hospital in five days. It can be said to be the best tool for treating diseases and saving lives.
The same miracle happened to a patient with extremely dangerous penetrating injuries.
On a windy and dark night, this patient covered in blood was sent to the emergency department by 120.
The emergency doctor rushed over and was stunned when he saw the patient for the first time.
The patient fell from a high altitude and had two steel bars over half a meter long inserted across his body.
One is inserted horizontally into the pelvis, the other penetrates through the root of the left thigh and exits from the root of the right thigh.
The whole scene was extremely dangerous, and even Director Sun of the emergency department who came later and had seen countless big scenes was shocked.
"I haven't seen this level of penetrating injury for several years. No matter what treatment method is adopted, it is a huge challenge for the hospital, medical care, and patients."
"Two such long steel bars cannot even be placed on the operating table."
Director Sun immediately took a breath of air, feeling deeply troubled, and quickly summoned experts for consultation.
While the hospital was pushing the patient to undergo comprehensive examinations such as CT, ultrasound, and cardiopulmonary examinations to ascertain the extent of the injury, the hospital also sought help from the nearby fire brigade.
After the firefighters arrived, they immediately used hydraulic pressure to cut off the protruding steel bars on the patient's body without affecting the patient's body.
At this time, medical staff can place the patient on the operating table.
At the same time, many experts from orthopedics, general surgery, urology, anesthesiology, vascular surgery, and imaging also took the patient's examination results, fully exchanged opinions, and formulated the final surgical plan.
"Because such penetrating injuries are very rare in China, the steel bars penetrate the body, large blood vessels and major nerves are densely distributed, and multiple important organs are involved, making treatment extremely difficult."
"How to avoid massive bleeding during surgery, how to avoid damage to the bladder and ureter, how to prevent intestinal damage during surgery, how to stabilize the patient's blood pressure during surgery, how to prevent postoperative infection..."
"These are issues we need to consider."
"The surgical plan definitely requires multidisciplinary coordination. First, orthopedic and vascular surgeons will conduct vascular and neurological examinations and perform penetrating trauma foreign body removal."
"Then DSA-guided balloon occlusion of the aorta was performed, and other surgeons performed penetrating wound debridement."
Director Liu of the Vascular Surgery Department looked at the patient's examination results, talked eloquently, and quickly proposed his own solution, which was unanimously recognized.
After the surgical plan was determined, the doctors faced another problem.
During the process of removing the steel bars, the biggest risk is that it can easily damage the arteries and cause massive bleeding.
In addition, there is a steel bar that runs through the pelvis. The removal process may cause secondary damage to the bladder, rectum, ureter and dense nerves. A slight mistake may lead to the failure of the operation.
In this case, the removal of the steel bars must be accurate to the sub-millimeter level, and the hands must not shake.
If your hand shakes and the location is slightly cheaper, big problems will arise.
In this case, doctors immediately thought of surgical robots.
What better option than a robot capable of performing multiple surgeries simultaneously?
Is there any extraction tool that is more stable and precise than a robotic arm?
The answer is no.
Using a surgical robot, doctors can remove the steel bars from the hip while debriding the thigh and continue debriding and suturing.
Multiple surgeries can be performed at the same time without disturbing each other.
Moreover, if you use a robotic arm to remove steel bars, as long as you set the route and intensity, you can achieve the entire process without any deviation. This accuracy is undoubtedly much better than that of human hands.
Therefore, with the help of Sanqing, the hospital set up the operating room in the shortest possible time.
An additional console is provided for the existing surgical robot, so that two doctors can control the robotic arms separately and perform different surgeries at the same time.
The orthopedic surgeon first controlled the robotic arm to remove the steel bars from the patient's left and right thighs, then debrided and sutured.
The operation went very smoothly, with just a little bleeding and it was done.
On the other side, vascular surgeons are faced with the more dangerous surgery of removing hip steel bars.
In order to prevent massive bleeding during the operation, a surgical robot was used to place a balloon in the abdominal aorta before removing the steel bars.
In this way, once major bleeding occurs during the operation, the balloon can be immediately expanded to block the blood vessels and block the blood supply, leaving about 30 minutes of prime time for medical staff to provide first aid.
Due to adequate preparation in advance, the risk of vascular and nerve damage to patients is minimized.
As a result, the robotic arm accurately clamped the steel bars on the patient's abdomen and began to slowly withdraw from the body along the established route.
Under the dynamic monitoring of the endoscopic navigation system, the steel bar slowly exited the first 1cm.
At this moment, the air in the operating room seemed to freeze.
Everyone subconsciously held their breath and silently stared at the steel bars retreating on the screen.
Although the initial penetrating injury did not cause fatal injuries, as long as the extraction process is slightly careless, the damage caused by excessive displacement may cause secondary bleeding at any time.
However, the robotic arm did not seem to feel this critical pressure. Firmly but slowly, the steel bar was gradually withdrawn centimeter by centimeter according to the original injury path.
After 30 minutes, the last 1cm of steel bar completely exited the patient's body.
During the entire process, the robotic arm did not deviate or tremble at all, and completed the task extremely reliably.
There was no major bleeding and no damage to major blood vessels and nerves.
Everyone present immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Two hours later, with the last suture knot secured and shortened by a tireless robotic arm, the debridement was successfully completed.
This four-hour arduous rescue finally came to an end in a thrilling but orderly atmosphere.
The injured person maintained stable vital signs and was finally dragged back from the gate of hell. He successfully recovered that night.
After this battle, Sanqing's full-featured surgical robot has completely captured the hearts of surgeons.
They bid farewell to the era of barbaric disembowelment and magic, and like the first batch of aircraft pilots soaring in the sky in human history, they plunged headlong into the new world of intelligent minimally invasive surgery with an unstoppable attitude.
Of course, if we want to rush into the intelligent era of minimally invasive surgery at high speed, there is another important constraint.
That’s the price of surgical robots.
Prior to this, the high price of the Da Vinci robot, which often cost tens of millions, was the biggest obstacle to the popularization of minimally invasive smart surgery.
Fortunately, this time we met the domestic giant Sanqing.
When it comes to reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and ending sky-high prices, no one knows better than the Chinese.
No matter what it is, when the Chinese cannot produce it, it will be sold very expensively.
Once China can produce it, it will instantly become a cabbage price.
This is true for TBMs, LCD panels, chips, MRI... it's all the same.
Surgical robots are no exception.
****
Kunming City, Sanqing Headquarters.
"Mr. Wei, our surgical robot is so popular."
"Doctors from many hospitals come to visit and study, and then they all ask how much does one cost?"
"Look, when will we set the price and announce it?"
Wang Dali considered his words, tried to keep his tone calm, and asked.
However, his rapid breathing and uncontrollably waving hands still showed his inner excitement.
Wei Kang withdrew his gaze from the clinical experiment report in his hand, thought for a moment, and then gave the answer.
“It’s really time to set a price.”
"I remember that the price of Da Vinci's surgical robot is 30 million, so let's set the price at one-tenth."
"Huh?" Wang Dali was stunned when he heard this.
Although he had already prepared that his own robot would definitely be sold cheaper than Da Vinci, probably in the million-dollar range, he did not expect it to be so low.
After all, they are both priced in the million range, 8 million and 3 million, there is still a big gap.
At this time, he couldn't help but think of some of Lu Tingfeng's complaints, and then he had a personal feeling for the old leader's pain.
Just when he was hesitating about how to express his objections tactfully without making his boss disgusted.
Wei Kang added a few more words, and then suppressed the violent impulse deep in his heart.
"Oh, by the way, this is just the price of the basic model. The standard configuration should be a robotic arm."
Wei Kang said casually: "I remember that the robot should be equipped with mechanical arms with various functions, and it could even be equipped with additional consoles."
"Then these additional features will cost extra."
"Our robotic arms are so sophisticated that selling one for 800,000 yuan is not too much."
"There is also a console. It is so easy to operate. It is reasonable to sell one for 500,000 yuan."
"As for supporting parts and software, these are also charged, such as scalpel heads, advanced AI assistance systems, etc."
"Of course maintenance, as well as software and database upgrades, are free during the warranty period. After the warranty period, there will definitely be charges."
Wang Dali was immediately applauded when he heard this: "Mr. Wei, you are absolutely right. Our equipment industry does not make big money from the equipment itself, but from subsequent accessories."
"The prices of the equipment itself are relatively low, especially the basic models. They are mainly used to seize the market and attract customers."
"Usually, each hospital's situation is different for this kind of equipment. Some hospitals only need laparoscopic surgeries, and some hospitals can't even perform surgical surgeries. They naturally need different configuration solutions."
"We have to try our best to customize additional functions for customers based on their needs in order to earn enough profits."
"This kind of pricing strategy is suitable for high-end equipment."
Wei Kang leaned back slightly, leaning on the soft back of the chair, raising the corners of his mouth with a proud smile, and said.
"Of course, with millions or tens of millions of machines, different users must have different needs. We must cover as many customer groups as possible in order to occupy the largest market share."
"Cheap basic models, far lower than the market price, but functionally no worse than competitors, can greatly stimulate customer demand and give them the feeling of taking advantage of a big deal."
"Sometimes, when customers face this kind of stimulation, even if they don't have demand, they will create demand and force it on."
"After placing the order, they saw a long list of functionally rich robotic arms that can be installed on one machine and adapted to various types of surgeries. At this time, they will feel that it is such a big advantage that they can't take advantage of it. Occupy' feeling."
"After all, those competing robots are all sold separately according to their functions. If you want to do orthopedic surgery, you must buy an orthopedic surgery robot, and if you want to do laparoscopic surgery, you must buy a da Vinci. They will not just Give you a separate robotic arm.”
“Our products are more powerful than competing products, not in the robotic arms, consoles, and imaging systems.”
"Friends can also provide these functions. Compared with us, there is a gap, but not that big."
"However, we have an advantage that others do not have, and that is the extreme compatibility of the distributed robotic arm and operating console, as well as the power of the parallel AI assistance system."
"You only need to install different robotic arms, and you can use one robot to perform joint surgeries in multiple departments. You can even install an additional console to operate multiple surgeries in parallel."
“In this way, customers will know the advantages of our products just by making multiple comparisons.”
"Everyone used to do this, selling different functions separately. Customers had no choice."
"Now, customers have a choice. Ha ha."
"At this time, what choice will they make? Needless to say?"
Wang Dali smiled with deep understanding, nodded, and continued.
"In fact, this is also good for grassroots hospitals. I have received inquiries from some county-level hospitals. They have long wanted to buy surgical robots, but they have always been deterred by the high price of Da Vinci."
"Our basic model comes standard with a robotic arm, which can be taken away for only 3 million. It can be purchased in primary hospitals to perform some common minimally invasive endoscopic surgeries."
"Their doctors' abilities are limited, and some difficult surgeries cannot be performed, so they have to be transferred to other hospitals. With the assistance of robots, the threshold for many surgeries can be greatly lowered, and they can be performed directly in the county, eliminating the need for patients to travel. suffering."
"When it comes to this, they are very excited and say that as long as the price is right, they will definitely place an order."
"Furthermore, many county hospital departments are not fully equipped and cannot find suitable senior doctors. Major surgeries in departments such as neurosurgery, interventional surgery, and cardiac surgery are afraid to be performed."
"When their reputation gradually builds up and patients gain confidence in the hospital, they can build special departments. At this time, there is no need to buy more robots. They only need to install mechanical arms or consoles."
"That would be a great deal for them and an attraction."
"As for the first- and second-tier tertiary hospitals, they have deep pockets. If they know the price, they will definitely order several units at once, and each unit is expected to be fully equipped."
Wei Kang smiled slightly and reminded: "There is one more thing, don't forget."
“That’s the telesurgery capability.”
“This is also one of our major selling points for grassroots hospitals in remote areas.”
Wang Dali nodded hurriedly: "Mr. Wei, don't worry, I will never forget it."
"This is because our robot hasn't been sold yet, and it hasn't been sold to primary hospitals, so we can't show it to them yet."
"When it goes on sale in the future, I will definitely promote this point vigorously."
Wei Kang pondered for a moment and said, "Let's donate a few surgical robots to remote areas."
"Just think of it as charity, and let them experience what it's like to go to the countryside for surgery."
"At the same time, we must do a good job in publicity so that the general public can see this scene."
"In the past, they only received telemedicine, and they had not yet reached the stage of remote surgery."
"In fact, telesurgery is part of telemedicine. When they see it as belief and can accept it, that's when telesurgery will become a reality and become truly popular." (End of Chapter)
